¥i<uth Applied 

or 

BiBkE Readings 



REV-R.G.PEARSON 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

■^wv% — 

§§jtju. ttig&t Ifa* 

SllenTSSTl 

IT 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




TRUTH APPLIED, 



OR 



BIBLE READINGS. 



Rev. R. G. PEARSON. 




Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn. 
W. J. DAKBY, General Manager. 
1889. 



of 



con 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, 
BY R. G. PEARSON, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



DEDICATION. 



^pO THE BELOVED WIFE OF MY YOUTH, whom God 
gave me, and who has proved not only an encourage- 
ment to every good word and work, but also a loving and 
faithful, a wise and prayerful helpmeet in all my toils as a 
pastor and evangelist, these readings are dedicated. 

(in) 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 



The editor is a sort of pioneer who explores and 
re-explores a book, first in the manuscript and after- 
ward in correcting the proofs, before the readers are 
admitted to its perusal. This task of the editor is 
sometimes accounted irksome ; but the labor of pre- 
paring this volume of simple and direct Bible dis- 
courses has not been unmingled with enjoyment and 
instruction. With each perusal the editor has received 
help and spiritual inspiration, and he feels sure that 
similar profit and pleasure await every earnest reader 
of these pages. The lucid interpretation of scripture 
by scripture, the homely but appropriate and telling 
illustrations, the simple and eloquent directness of 
language, and the devout spirit of earnestness and 
consecration that pervades every page and sentence, 
will, it is believed, commend this little volume to all 
who are seeking to know and obey the truth. 

J. M. HOWARD, 

Book Editor, 

(iv) 



PREFACE. 



In all attempts to instruct and benefit our fellow- 
men there are two things of vital importance — first, 
to find, second to apply, the truth. The inspired 
word of God is the only infallible standard of truth ; 
therefore, in the readings submitted, no attempt has 
been made to search for or apply scientific or philo- 
sophic truth, but simply to apply the word of God. 
This word, we are told in 2 Tim. iii. 17, is such, " that 
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works ; " consequently the Scriptures, 
by the author of these readings, are deemed of suffi- 
cient authority, scope, and adaptation without any 
human supplements. Futhermore, since God, in Jer- 
emiah xxiii. 28, says : " The prophet that hath a dream, 
let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my word, let 
him speak my word faithfully," the attempt has not 
been so much to interpret, expound, or explain God's 
word as to ' ' speak faithfully " in applying the truth. 

In " Truth Applied/' the object has been in the 
plainest, clearest, and most direct way, to reach the 
conscience through the understanding ; and to this 
end the flowers of rhetoric have been studiously 
avoided ; the circumlocution of high-sounding phrases 
has been rejected, and the one aim has been so to 
speak that all could understand, and that the "com- 
mon people would hear gladly." 

The readings were prepared and delivered extempore 
so far as manuscripts were concerned. They were 

(v) 



vi 



Preface. 



also prepared not at my leisure, but on various occa- 
sions according as some circumstance would arise in 
the midst of a series of meetings to call for a special 
reading. They were spoken without notes except 
marginal references in my Bible, and were taken down 
as spoken, by a stenographer. My health and strength 
were such as to prevent my giving them any thing 
like a careful or thorough revision. 

The style is that of a speaker dealing with the 
masses. These readings were spoken to the multi- 
tudes with a design to help rather than entertain, and 
they are now published for the same class and with 
the same object, and are therefore intentionally free 
and colloquial in style. 

If God will use them in book form as much as when 
delivered, then the object in publishing them will 
have been attained. God grant that they may be as 
" bread cast upon the waters," and, in spite of their 
inelegancies, may they be a blessing to the many who 
requested their publication, and also to many who 
never heard them. R. G. PEARSON. 

Asheville, N. C, August 24, 1889. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Qualifications of Workers, i 

At Jesus' Feet, 21 

Christ and Believers, 42 

Conditions of Effectual Prayer, . 64 

Pure Religion, 88 

A Mother's Influence, no 

Laying Up Riches, . . 130 

The Forgiveness of Enemies, 149 

The Work of the Spirit, 166 

The Shepherd and the Sheep, . . . . 188 

Confession, 206 

Looking Unto Jesus, 225 



(vii) 



QUALIFICATIONS OF WORKERS. 



■HE topic of our Bible reading is "Qualifica- 



tions of a Worker for God. 1 ' The text is Mark 



xvi. 20: "And they went forth, and preached 
everywhere, the Lord working with them, and con- 
firming the word with signs following. Amen." 

The early disciples, and especially the apostles, 
went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord 
working with them. Now, if the Lord was work- 
ing with them, they were working with the Lord; 
and if they and the Lord were working together, 
they were working for the Lord. They were 
therefore workers for God. And what else ? ' c The 
Lord working with them, and confirming the word 
with signs following. ' ' 

4 { Signs following. ' ' Some people believe the 
days of miracles are past. You can not find any 
authority for that in God's word. The necessity 
for that kind of miracles that were needed to 
give divine sanction to the introduction of the 
Bible has passed away. But miracles have not 
passed away. What is the regeneration of a soul 
but a divine miracle ? Creation is a miracle, and a 
regenerated soul is a new creation in Christ Jesus. 
Therefore miracles are not past; the necessity for 
miraculous and exceptional signs has passed. 




(1) 



2 



Bible Readings. 



And again, " Confirming the word with signs 
following. " Some of those signs followed as di- 
vine sanctions of the apostles' mission. Some of 
them followed as ordinary signs of preaching the true 
gospel in any age. Just so certain as God is the 
same and the gospel is the same and humanity is 
the same there will be signs following the preach- 
ing of God's gospel to-day, and on down to the end 
of the ages. If the gospel is preached in the fear 
of God, and in reliance on the Holy Ghost, there 
will be the signs following of deep, genuine con- 
viction of sin; of thorough, genuine repentance; of 
a sound, biblical, Holy Ghost regeneration; there 
will be the signs following of the shaking of the 
dry bones in the valley, the returning of the wan- 
dering sheep, the coming back of the backsliders, 
and the building up of God's people on their most 
holy faith. Those are some of the signs that fol- 
lowed when the apostles preached, and they will 
follow to-day if we are preaching the gospel. 

Now, before beginning this discussion, there is 
one very just and clean-cut distinction that I want 
you to bear in mind — namely, the distinction be- 
tween working for God and being engaged in 
church work. " Why," says somebody, c 4 that is 
the same thing, and it seems to me you are making 
a distinction without a difference." It may seem 
that way, but it is not. Of course, every one who 
is a worker for God is engaged in church work, 
but the converse of the proposition is not true, viz., 
that every one who is engaged in church work is a 
worker for God. 



Qualifications of Workers. 3 

I will give you an illustration. In the political 
world we have first a patriot, and then we have a 
political partisan. Now, what is a patriot ? He 
is a man who loves his country first, last, and all 
the time, over and above his party, or any other 
party. Now, what is a political partisan ? He is a 
man who loves his party, let it be Democratic, Re- 
publican, or what not, better than he loves his 
country; and as proof of it, he will stuff a ballot- 
box, and move heaven, earth, and perdition itself 
to advance his party. When such a political par- 
tisan is at work in politics he is not working 
for his country ; he is working for his party. And 
there is the difference between a partisan and a 
patriot. 

There is precisely the same difference between 
working for God and being an ecclesiastical parti- 
san. A man who is working foi God loves God 
and his cause over and above any one part or sec- 
tion of the church; he is working for God's glory, 
for his kingdom, and for souls. What is an eccle- 
siastical partisan ? He is one of those who would 
compass sea and land to make one proselyte; who 
would explore heaven and earth in order to advance 
his particular ecclesiastical clique. And such 
church workers have but very little interest per- 
haps in keeping a soul out of hell if they are not 
going to get that soul into their church. 

Now, let us be a little more specific. I have 
seen good Christian women who would almost 
work their hands off at a church supper, and some- 
times in a raffle, and in various other ways, legiti- 



4 



Bible Readings. 



mate and illegitimate, to get a new carpet on the 
floor, or new stained glass windows, or a silver 
service. But try to get one of these same women 
to win a soul, or to teach a penitent. u O no," is 
the answer, u I am too modest; I can 't do any thing 
at all." You are working for the church and not 
for God. 

I have seen men that would do any thing and 
every thing almost for their church, and when it 
came right down to a hand-to-hand contest, to 
locking shields with the ungodly and pulling them, 
as Jude says, out of the fire and winning souls for 
Christ, these same men say, ' i I have nothing to do 
in that line," and, "All that I have to do is to see 
that my church is kept up," and so on. Now, I 
believe in church organization and in church 
lines; I believe in denominations. We can't get 
along without them. I believe if you are a Bap- 
tist you should be a Baptist from head to foot; and 
so with the Presbyterians and Methodists and Epis- 
copalians, and so with every orthodox denomina- 
tion on earth. Stay in your own church, and 
work there. But don't be such a Baptist, or 
such a Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Episcopalian, 
or such an any thing else, as that all the religion 
and zeal and work you have is to look to nothing 
higher or beyond your particular little church. 
If you do that you are an ecclesiastical partisan, 
working for your church, and not working for 
Christ and for God. 

I belong to the church; I love my own church 
better than I do any other; not that it is any better, 



Qualifications of Workers. 5 

but I know it better, and have become attached to 
it, and I want to live and die there. But I have a 
higher office than to be an ecclesiastical recruiting 
officer. I am for souls and for God, and then fct 
them go and join what church they please. Let 
us all stand in solid phalanx against hell and the 
devil, and win souls to God and convert the world 
to Christ, if we can. 

Now, may I give you just one other illustration 
of the difference between work for God and church 
work ? I was holding a meeting in a certain city ; 
and going one day to the home of an old Christian 
lady, I there met a stylish, godless woman, who, in 
the course of conversation, pointed to a church 

near by and said, "Mrs. and I built that 

church. " I said, 1 i You and she built it ? I did n' t 
know you were a Christian." "I am not. I 
don't care any thing about religion. I don't 
belong to the church, and I am a little skeptical. 
But I built that church. " " How did you do it ? " 
4 ( I had bazaars, suppers, festivals, raffles, church 
concerts, musicales, and so on." "Why did you 
do it ? " " The only reason in the world was that 
I ruled the young folks around me. I like to lead, 
and the papers gave me some very nice puffs. 
Then, too, I had some magnificent concerts, and I 
am fond of music, and I did it for my own enter- 
tainment." There was a woman engaged in church- 
work — she had built a church. But was she work- 
ing for God? God's glory never once entered that 
woman's head nor heart, but her motive was her 
own glory, pastime, amusement. 



6 



Bible Readings. 



Have a new carpet for your church if you want 
it; have a new silver service if you need it. That 
is all right. Work for your church, but, dear men 
and women, don't spend your life just simply 
working for that, losing sight of God and his glory 
and the salvation of immortal souls. How many 
of you, all of your lives, have been simply engaged 
in church work. You thought you were working 
for God, but you were mistaken about it! 

What are the qualifications of a worker for God ? 

We need first of all, love for Christ — 2 Cor. v. 
14, 15: "For the love of Christ cons traineth us; 
because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
were all dead; and that he died for all, that they 
which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
selves, but unto him which died for them, and 
rose again.' ' 

Did you notice that phrase, ' c The love of Christ 
constraineth us ? " Here is the love that Christ 
had for us, an eternal, infinite, abiding love. 
What did that love do? It brought Christ all the 
way from the skies, and it brought him down here. 
He was born in a manger, so poor that he had not a 
cradle in which to be rocked. He led a life of toil, 
poverty, suffering, shame, sacrifice; men buffeted 
him and spit upon him. Why would Christ let 
men spit upon him? Because he loved you and 
me, and he loved us so well that he was willing to 
be spit upon, and then to be crowned with thorns. 
Why would he be crowned with thorns, when he 
could have summoned many legions of angels ? 
Ah, it was love. Love said : c ' Angels, keep your 



Qualifications of Workers. 7 

distance ; this is the only way to save men. ' ' He 
loved men enough to do that, and to die on the 
cross between two thieves. O matchless love, the 
love of Jesus for us ! It is the love of God, which 
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which 
is given unto us, as we are told in the fifth chapter 
of Romans. That love in our hearts goes right 
back, right out, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it 
makes us love him above every body else and every 
thing else. And while we love our country, we love 
our Savior better, and while we love wives and 
husbands and children, we love our Savior better; 
and while we love our respective churches, we 
love our Savior better; and it is a warm, deep- 
seated, earnest, genuine love. 

What will this love do? It will constrain us, 
impel us, propel us, compel us to do — what ? Ah, 
to glorify him, to keep his holy commandments, 
and to follow his footsteps. He said, " Deny your- 
self, take up your cross and follow me." He said, 
" Let your light so shine that others may see it; " 
and he said, " Ye are my friends if ye do whatso- 
ever I command you;" and he said, "If a man 
love me, he will keep my word." Friends, this 
love for Christ is the great secret of all consecra- 
tion to God, the secret of all true work, and the 
key to all success and efficiency in God's service. 

Now, let us get at the principle here, and the 
trouble also. You find a great many church mem- 
bers all over this country who have about this idea : 
Working for God, working for Jesus, talking to 
sinners, reading God's word to penitents, trying to 



8 



Bible Readings. 



win souls, doing any thing in God's vineyard — 
why, that is a kind of drudgery; and a great many 
Christians want to get rid of it, want to shirk it, 
want to throw it off on the head of the evangelist, 
while he is present, and afterward on the pastor. 
That pastor will be killed who will do what a 
modern church wants him to do. 

Why do you look at this work for God as 
drudgery ? I will tell you why. You need more 
deep, warm, genuine, earnest love for Jesus down 
in your heart. You need less of your ecclesiastical 
partisanship; you need more of this deep, warm 
love ; for when we love a person or an object we 
don't regard what we do for him as drudgery. 
Jacob's seven years' service for Rachel seemed but 
a short while. Why ? The Bible says because of 
the love that he had for her. Love makes work a 
delight. 

Take a practical illustration. Here is a mother 
who has a darling little one lying over there in 
that cradle, and the little one is sick. There she 
sits all night long, and she rocks that cradle, soothes 
that feeble little brow. She takes the cloth and 
dips it in the water, and then cools the parched 
tongue. She will sit there all day in the long 
July or August heat and fan and soothe that little 
one. Suppose some one would come in and say : 
u Madame, do n't you regard it as a great drudgery 
and tax to sit there and rock that cradle all day 
and all night?" Her soul would resent such a 
suggestion. No; she feels, u It is my darling little 
one; it is my child; I love my child, and here I am 



Qualifications of Workers. 9 

going to stay as long as my darling needs me, and 
I have any strength left." Why is it not 
drudgery ? The secret of the whole thing is sim- 
ply a mother's love. The little child is no profit, 
no benefit to her; it does not know she loves it, it 
is so young. It is simply her love for the little 
one. If you love Jesus, who loved you, if you 
love him with all your heart, if you love him with 
a deep-seated, abiding, genuine, heart-felt, Holy- 
Ghost-implanted affection, you will not regard it 
as drudgery to work for Jesus. You will not re- 
gard it as something to be got rid of, but you will 
delight in it, and thank God for it, and you will 
say, 4 c My meat and drink is to do the will of my 
Master. ' ' Yes, ' i for me to live is Christ, and to 
die is gain." Drudgery? I thank God I haven't 
found it so. I love to work for Jesus, and I am 
sorry that I can not work all the time. 

Dear friends, that is what we want. It is love 
for Jesus. Do you see that steam engine standing 
down yonder? The steam box is full of steam, 
and there are not enough men in this city to hold 
that engine still on the track. It can ? t stand 
still; the very steam that is in it compels it to 
move. Just so, you take a cold, formal, stiff, 
stilted, starched church member, and fill him with 
the Holy Ghost, fill him with the love of Christ, 
deep and heart- felt, and then what will happen? 
He will have the same experience that Peter and 
James and John had when they were told that they 
should speak no more in that name. ' 1 We can 
not but speak, we must work, we can not hold our 



IO 



Bible Readings. 



tongues." Ah, my friends, that is what we want. 
And I hope every saint will send up just one prayer, 
4< Lord Jesus, increase my love for thee." 

But the second qualification of a worker for God 
is love for souls — 2 Cor. v. 20: "Now, then, we 
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did 
beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God. ' ' 

What was the great secret of Paul's life ? You 
read about his missionary tours, about his great 
evangelistic campaigns. What was the secret of his 
self-denial, zeal, consecration, endurance of scourg- 
ing and shipwreck? The one great secret of 
it, next to his love for Jesus, was his love for 
souls. Paul loved men; he loved their immortal 
spirits, and he so loved them that he was willing to 
go out and to spend and be spent in winning them 
to Jesus Christ. If we love men we are going to 
work for them. If we love any thing or any body, 
we will always work in that direction. That is the 
secret of the great success of the missionary tours 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was because he loved 
mefn. It is the secret of the great work of all men 
who are to-day successful under God's command. 
It is love for souls. 

Here are your children; you speak to them some- 
times and they speak back in not the right kind of 
a way. They disobey you, they are ugly, they are 
pettish, they are petted. You will not be willing to 
acknowledge this, perhaps, but you know it just 
the same. What about those children ? You do n't 
cast them off and ostracise them and disinherit 



Qualifications of Workers. ii 

them whenever they misbehave. Why not? Be- 
cause you love them. And just so, precisely, if 
you love your fellow-men, if you love souls, you 
will not cease working for them just because they 
ruffle your patience; just because when you speak 
to a man he says, " It is none of your business if I 
want to go to hell." If you love souls you will 
not be so particular about their elbowing you off, 
or slighting you, or giving you the cold shoulder. 
If you love them you will keep on working for 
them, and continue to work for them in private 
and in public, in prayer and in conversation, try- 
ing, in every way, to win them to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Sons of God, we do not more than half 
love the souls around us. Why did he not take 
you to heaven as soon as you were converted? 
Hear what the Master says : "Ye are the salt of 
the earth." Salt is to exert a saving effect upon 
that w T hich needs such an influence. Ye are the 
salt of the earth. God needs you here that you 
may exert that saving, salutary influence upon the 
men and women by whom you are surrounded. 
But if you draw yourself all up in your shell like 
an oyster, and never say or do any thing for the 
lost and dying, never bring to bear any influence, 
you are missing the great mission that God gave 
you, and forfeiting the purpose for which he left 
you on the earth. You know that wonderful pas- 
sage in the New Testament that says : 4 ' When he 
shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be 
ashamed before him at his coming." I think 
among all the people who will be ashamed when 



12 



Bible Readings. 



they stand before Jesus, that man or woman will be 
most so who was a Christian for many years, liv- 
ing in the midst of sinners for whom Jesus died, 
and who put his light under a bushel, and hid 
his talent in a napkin, and went to heaven and 
never won a solitary soul. 

Friends, I am willing to die this morning, 
if God wants me, and I think I am ready. If I am 
not, I never expect to be. I settled that question 
in childhood, when I was not more than six years 
old. "I left it all with Jesus long ago." But, let 
me tell you, I would be ashamed to die this morn- 
ing. Why ? I would be ashamed to leave a world, 
in which there are so many sinners, with the 
thought that I had won so few souls to the Lord 
Jesus. I would be ashamed to walk those streets 
of the New Jerusalem, and look at the blood- 
washed millions there, and feel u There are merely 
a few here that I won to Jesus. " 

Dear saints of God — you who are running around 
after this little old world, and trying to keep up 
with this hollow, abominable society — of what 
account are such worldly pursuits? O how will 
you feel, you saints of God, if you stand before 
Jesus without winning a single soul ? If you ever 
win a soul; if you ever sit down by a poor, peni- 
tent sinner, and read God's word, and see that soul 
drink it in, and see that countenance light up as 
Jesus is born in the soul the hope of glory, that 
will be a foretaste of heaven — joy on earth — glory 
obtained below. That is eating the grapes of 
Eshcol before we cross the river. I hope every 



Qualifications of Workers. 13 

saint will pray ( ' God grant me the grace, the 
privilege, the honor and glory to win at least one 
soul to Jesus." But you must love souls if you 
are going to work for them. 

Some people who belong to the church and say 
they are Christians, are always standing around on 
their stilts and on their dignity. They are so prim 
and precise and particular that they are shocked if 
every thing is not done just so and so ; but the 
trouble is they are all the time doing nothing, 
because they are all the time trying to do every 
thing in such a precise and proper way. Suppose 
the house over yonder is afire, and you have a friend 
in it. The alarm is given when all are sound 
asleep. Would you stand on the order of your 
going? And, when you got there, would you 
stand on the order of your doing? No; you would 
do any thing. You would take that old muddy 
hose and pull it through the sand. You would 
use the oldest bucket to throw water; you would 
do any thing and every thing to put the fire out. 
What would you think of a man standing around 
on the street corner, all buttoned up in dress coat, 
white cravat, patent leather shoes, and white kid 
gloves? You ask, u Why don't you help put out 
the fire!" and he answers, "I might get my 
clothes dirty; I might soil my boots. " What do 
you think of him ? What is he worth ? Is he a 
man ? Has he a soul ? 

That is a picture of these people that are so 
squeamish and prim and particular that every thing 
must be done just so and so. And they can 't help 



14 



Bible Readings. 



a poor soul out of the fire; they can't bring a poor 
soul to Jesus Christ. They can't take any part in 
the gracious and glorious work of winning souls to 
Jesus. They are neither hot nor cold, and, God's 
word for it, they will be spewed out of his mouth. 
Dear saints, I believe in doing things decently and 
in order; I believe all things should be done in 
accordance with propriety, and I despise clap-trap. 
But I also despise that decency and order that 
never does any thing but keep decent. 

See that steam-engine pulling a long freight 
train, muddy, dirty, sooty, and seemingly all out 
of gear. What does it mean ? It means doing 
something. I have a great deal more respect for 
that than for the one that does nothing. Let us 
go to work and do something for men and souls. 

The third qualification of a worker for God is a 
knowldge of Scripture — 2 Tim. ii. 15: " Study to 
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that 
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth." 

u Study to show thyself approved unto God " — 
not unto the audience or the people, but to God. 
" Rightly dividing " what ? Not Shakspeare, not 
Byron, but rightly dividing the word of God. 
Now, dear friends, if you are going to do that you 
must have a knowledge of Scripture. The Script- 
ures are the sickle of truth, the thing that we are 
to thrust in here if we are going to reap the 
sheaves for God's kingdom. You can't use God's 
word unless you are familiar with it, and have a 
knowledge of it. It is a sad truth that not one 



Qualifications of Workers. 15 

out of twenty-five in this country, if you leave out 
the clergy, can sit down and take God's word and 
intelligently lead a soul to Jesus Christ. People 
do not study the word, and are not familiar with 
it. They do not know where the texts are that 
apply to individuals. A great many are spending 
their time absorbing Shakspeare and Byron and 
Milton and Scott and a thousand other books. 
They pride themselves on keeping up with litera- 
ture. I like literature, and I like to see scholarly 
men and women; but I have very little patience 
with that man who calls himself a child of God, 
but prides himself on his literary attainments and 
cares nothing for God's word or his work. Let 
me be efficient, let me be proficient in the use of 
God's word, and I care very little about the rest. 

It is as Sir Walter Scott said, when he was dying 
in the midst of his great library, "Give me the 
book," he said. " What book? " some one asked. 
The dying poet answered, " There is but one book, 
the Bible." Are you going to win souls to Christ, 
to garner treasures for God and heaven? Study 
God's word and know how to use it. Have a good 
Bible in your hand and be perfectly familiar with 
it. Use it in winning souls. Dear friends, you 
can not bring souls to God except in God's way. 

The next qualification of a worker for God is 
faith in God— 1 Cor. ii. 5: u That your faith 
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
power of God." Of course you all know this, but 
you need to have line upon line, precept upon 
precept, here a little and there a little. And as 



i6 



Bible Readings. 



well as you know it, how often it is that you fail 
to do what you know ? Put your faith in God. 

One of the greatest troubles that an evangelist 
or pastor has to contend with is that people get, 
very wrongly, to putting their faith in him and 
not in God. He is nothing but a poor sinner, 
saved by grace. It makes no difference, from 
Moody down or up ; unless God be there in and 
through and upon the man, he is as powerless as 
any body else. 

When I was in a certain city year before last 
some one came saying to me, £ ' Well, Mr. Pearson, 
if you can shake up this place you can shake up 
any thing." I said, " I couldn't shake up a last 
year's bird's nest. I am nothing, and if God 
Almighty does not shake up this city it will not 
get a shaking up." Put not your faith in me, not 
in men. You have good, godly pastors, but don't 
put your faith in them. Put your faith in God. It 
is a solemn truth that unless God convicts these 
sinners they will not be convicted; unless God 
converts them, they will not be converted; unless 
God saves these men they will not be saved. We 
can do nothing at all. Poor, helpless worms of 
the dust, what are we ? Says God, ' ' I am God, 
and beside me there is none other." Put your 
faith in God ; look to him this morning. 

The next qualification of a worker for God 
is separation from the world — 2 Cor. vi. 17: 
" Wherefore come out from among them, and be 
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the 
unclean thing; and I will receive you." Who is 



Qualifications of Workers. 17 

lie talking to ? Christians. What does he say ? 
Come out from among them. Who are meant by 
"them?" The unregenerate; the God- forgetting 
and God-defying world. Come out from among 
them. My friends, you must be separate from the 
world, as Christ was; in the world but not of the 
world. There is to be a line of demarcation be- 
tween those who are in Christ and those who are 
of the world. 

Let me be a little practical. Separate from 
what ? I answer, separate from these abominable, 
seductive, and corrupting dances. You may say 
what you please about dancing, but you church 
members, men and women, can not dance with 
these unregenerate sinners in the ball-room and 
then come down to God's house and take those sin- 
ners and lead them to Christ. You can not do it; 
they will not be so led. I challenge you to put your 
finger on a dancing church member in the history 
of the church that was known to lead souls to 
Jesus Christ. 

Separate from what ? Separate from your pro- 
gressive euchre parties. You can not sit down and 
play progressive euchre with your neighbor and 
your neighbor's children and then lead them to 
Christ in God's house. They will not be led by 
your sort. Nor can you desecrate God's Sabbath, 
and live as you list, and then lead souls to Jesus 
Christ. 

Men, you can not walk into those saloons down 
yonder and get drunk, and walk these streets drunk, 
and then lead souls to Christ. You can not go 
2 



i8 



Biblk Readings. 



along here and refuse to pay your debts, your 
doctor's bill, and your grocer's bill, and then come 
and lead that doctor or grocery merchant to Jesus 
Christ You can not do it. 

My friends, if we are going to be workers for 
God we must come out and be separate from un- 
godliness, taking no part nor parcel in it at all. I 
hear somebody say, u But isn't the place for the 
church in the world?" Yes, it is; but that is a 
very different thing from the world in the church. 

May I give you an illustration? Where is the 
place for a ship, for a boat ? In the water. Yes, 
but that is a very different thing from the water 
in the boat. You may get the ship water-logged, 
and that is the difficulty with God's church to-day. 
The place for the church is the world; but we are 
making a mistake and putting the world in the 
church. Let us put the old gospel pump in the 
hold of the Ship of Zion and try to pump the 
water out. 

You may make up your mind about one or two 
things. If you are going to be a worker for God 
and win souls to Jesus Christ, you must come out 
and live as Jesus Christ and the apostles lived. 
If you are not going to do that, just go along in the 
world, live as you list, die in your sins, and you 
will lose your own soul. You can not serve two 
masters; you can not serve God and mammon. 
Take your choice this morning. If you are going 
to work for God, let the world take care of itself; 
if you are not going to work for Christ, you and 
the world will go down to perdition together. A 



Qualifications of Workers. 19 

worldly church can never bring the world to the 
feet of Jesus Christ 

The next qualification of a worker for God is 
devotion to the work — Phil. i. 21: u For to me to 
live is Christ, and to die is gain." Why was this 
true in Paul's case? He was devoted to God's 
work. Dear saints, do you know one chief reason 
why you win so few souls to God ? It is because 
you have not been devoted to him. Some of you 
have been devoted to pleasure, and some to amuse- 
ment, and some to business, and some to every 
thing else, but scarcely any body to God's church 
and God's work. You will never succeed in that 
way. 

There is not a banker, nor merchant, nor pro- 
fessional or business man in this city who would 
not bankrupt his business before next year if he 
conducted it with as little devotion to its interests 
as a great many church members have for the 
cause of God. If a man is going to be a success 
as a politician, he must have devotion; as a lawyer, 
devotion; as a merchant, devotion; as a worker for 
God, devotion. Don't go to the extreme of think- 
ing that you are to do nothing else. You are to 
be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord in both. Let us be devoted in the work 
before us; it is going to test our devotion to Christ 
during this meeting. Are we willing to lose a 
little sleep and to practice a little self-denial and to 
work a little harder, and are we willing to endure 
some things a little different from what we would 
like to have them ? 



20 



Bible Readings. 



The last qualification of a worker for God is 
dependence on the Holy Spirit — L,uke xxiv. 49: 
"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father 
upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, 
until ye be endued with power from on high." 
What was the grand qualification that those disci- 
ples needed? It was the Holy Ghost, absolute 
dependence on the Holy Ghost; and so it is now. 
Let us preach, let us pray, let us talk, let us exalt 
the Son, but let us depend on the Holy Ghost. It 
is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, 
saith the Lord. If we are going to have a glorious 
ingathering, it will be the work of the Holy 
Ghost. We are to depend on him. 

■ ( 



AT JESUS' FEET. 



UKE vii. 38, is the text for the Bible reading, 



and the subject is, u At Jesus' Feet. After 



calling your attention to those three words, 
will give out seven verses of Scripture. Each 
verse presents a different individual, at a different 
time and under different circumstances, at the feet 
of Jesus; and shows that each one obtained just 
the particular thing needed, and that what each 
one obtained is the thing that we all need. May 
God help us this morning to sit at Jesus' feet and 
learn of him. 

I have no doubt you have read the New Testa- 
ment through, all of you, and some of you a great 
many times. Did you ever get any thing very 
precious and helpful and instructive out of that 
idea, "at Jesus' feet?" u No," you say; "I 
never did; I have read every mention of it in the 
New Testament story, but never got much benefit 
out of it." Do you know why? One reason is 
that you never stopped and collated all the pas- 
sages that bear on that subject, studying them in 
the light of the texts and the context. That is 
the great reason that you have never been bene- 
fited by it. If we are going to study God's word 
profitably we must compare scripture with script- 




(21) 



22 



Bible Readings. 



ure, and illustrate scripture by scripture. We 
must study Scripture topically, and bring to bear 
all of God's word on each topic, if we want to 
understand it and get benefit and help from it. 

There is a great benefit in focalizing and 
concentrating God's word on any given truth. 
Some bright, beautiful day you have seen the sun 
shining over yonder on the shingles on that roof; 
but the sunshine did not set them afire. Suppose 
you had gone over there and taken a sun-glass and 
held it up just above the shingles focalizing the 
rays of the sun on any given spot, what would 
have been the result? It would not have been 
very long before the shingles would have caught 
fire. You have not added any heat to the sun, or 
added any thing to the sun w r hatever. You simply 
concentrated, focalized, the rays of the sun on a 
given point, and the result of that focalizing is 
heat and fire and light. 

Just so, friends, you take any topic in God's 
word; take this topic that we have this morning, 
"at Jesus feet; " concentrate and focalize the rays 
of God's word on that point, and it will not be 
long before your hearts will begin to burn, and 
your soul will be made glad, and you will rejoice 
in God your Savior. 

I want to meet a very common error, a mistake 
about the Bible. A great many people have this 
idea, and a great many preachers and Sunday- 
school teachers have it: that the business of a 
preacher and a teacher is to throw light on God's 
word. That is a most egregious and consummate 



At Jesus' Feet. 



23 



error. It is not our business to throw light on 
God's word. You might as well talk about it 
being the business of a fire-fly to throw light on the 
noonday sun. God's word is not a dark riddle; 
it is not a Delphic oracle; it is a precious, divine 
revelation, and we need just simply to let it do 
its own shining. Get your fogs, smokes, ignor- 
ance, misconceptions, all cut of the way, and then 
just focalize God's word on any given fact or 
doctrine, and you will not need to throw any light 
on it. God's word will throw T the light. It is 
presumption to talk about us poor glow-worms 
throwing light on his word. What does God say 
about his word ? He says it is a lamp, a light ; he 
says the entrance of his word giveth light. Do n't 
be trying to throw any light on the Bible. Just 
get the texts together in their own natural order, 
as they bear on any topic, and you will get the light. 

Here is a diamond lying in the mud, sand, and 
dirt. What do you need to do with that diamond? 
Not to throw any light on the diamond, not to try 
to make the diamond shine, but just to take it out 
of the dust, and get these things away from it and 
out of it, and hold it up, and the diamond will 
do its own shining and sparkling. Just so with 
the blessed diamond, God's truth. Hold it up in 
its own light and it will sparkle and shine. Let us 
never start out with that delusive idea that we are 
to throw light on that word of truth to which 
we must go for light. We do n't go there to carry 
light. Let us now focalize God's word on this sub- 
ject, u At Jesus' feet," and see how it will shine. 



24 



Bible Readings. 



What did the person mentioned in Luke vii. 50, 
get at Jesus' feet? "And he said to the woman, 
Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." If 
her faith had saved her, she had salvation; and 
she obtained that salvation at the feet of Jesus. 
Now, that is the woman we read about a while ago, 
who came and fell down at the feet of Jesus and 
began to wash them with her tears, and wiped 
them with the hairs of her head. Every saved 
one obtained salvation at the feet of Jesus. Is 
there a saint in glory to-day? Every one that is 
there received salvation at the feet of Jesus. Is 
there an unsaved sinner in this house? Dear 
dying friend, what all the saints in glory and on 
earth have done you will have to do, if you ever 
obtain salvation — that is, you will have to come 
to the feet of the Son of God. You may talk 
about this religion and that religion, and this 
theology and that theology, but dear friend, God's 
word settles the question that Jesus Christ is the 
only Savior of fallen humanity. Hence, we read 
in Acts iv. 12: " Neither is there salvation in 
any other: for there is none other name under 
heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved." 

Now, will you lay aside your notions and your 
theories and your wild speculations, and become 
like a little child, and come like the poor publican 
of old, and get down at the feet of Jesus and say, 
"God be merciful to me a sinner," and put your 
faith in him? If you do this God will save you, 
and if you do not you are everlastingly lost. 



At Jesus' Feet. 



25 



What kind of salvation did that woman get ? 
You heard the verse read. ( ' Thy faith hath saved 
thee. Not "will" or "may" or "can" or 
"shall." It h-a-t-h hath done it. She obtained 
a present, an immediate, an instantaneous salva- 
tion, then and there on the spot. She came to 
that house that morning where Jesus was; she 
came in a sinner, a notorious sinner. Thank God, 
before she went out she was saved. You don't 
have to go through a long process to be saved. 
Put your faith in Jesus and he can save you in the 
twinkling of an eye. Will you do that this morn- 
ing, dear dying man ? Some of you came in here 
unsaved ; you may go out with a present salvation. 
Will you trust Jesus here as your Savior? Will 
you trust him now and take him at his word? 
Right now will you believe his words when he 
says to you, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
that believe th on me hath eternal life?" Will 
you ? Jesus will save you here this morning. But 
you say, "I am such a weak sinner, and I have 
got to do something to improve myself." What 
did that woman do to improve herself? Nothing 
at all. You must simply trust in Jesus. 

How did she get that salvation ? That is a vital 
question. She washed the Savior's feet with her 
tears; but her tears did not secure her salvation. 
She wiped the Savior's feet with the hairs of her 
head, but wiping his feet did not secure her sal- 
vation. She anointed him with the ointment, 
but that did not secure her salvation. What did ? 
"Thy faith." Not thy feeling, not thy emotion, 



26 



Bible Readings. 



not thy frame of mind, not thy self-improvement, 
not thy tears, not thy wiping my feet, not thy 
ointment. "Thy faith hath saved thee." That 
is, " you have taken me at my word, you have 
believed that I am the Son of God and your 
Savior, and you have received me as such. On 
account of that faith which you have reposed in 
me I will, and I do here and now, forgive your 
sins and save your soul." 

Now, dear sinner, that is just the way it is with 
you. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever. You will not be saved this morning 
by your weeping — I don't care how much you 
weep; God knows your sins are big enough and 
numerous and ugly enough for you to weep your 
eyes out; but tears will not wash away guilt. Nor 
will praying. Simon Peter told Simon Magus to 
pray to God; and Simon Magus was a sinner. 
That is good authority that sinners ought to pray, 
and you ought to pray, but don't put your faith in 
your prayers. 

Now, to-day, this morning, will you put your 
faith in Jesus Christ? Will you look at it this 
way? "I am a sinner; Jesus is a Savior. Jesus 
came to seek and to save that which was lost. He 
said if I believe on him I have eternal life. Lord 
Jesus, I take you at your word. I believe you will 
do what you said. You said if I would receive 
you you would give me the power to become a 
son of God. Lord Jesus, I claim the promise, I com- 
mit my soul into your hands." That is zvhere the 
woman obtained salvation, and that is the kind 



At Jesus' Feet. 



27 



of salvation she obtained, and that is the maimer 
in which she obtained it. 

How do you suppose that woman knew that her 
sins were forgiven? What did the Savior say to 
her? He said, "Thy sins are forgiven" and then 
he said, " Thy faith hath saved thee." 

I imagine after a little while that woman went 
out, and as she walked on the street one of those 
straight-laced Pharisees came up to her and said, 
"So you think you are saved. You think your 
sins are forgiven you? How do you know they 
are?" What do you suppose the woman would 
have said ? Would she have said, 1 £ 1 feel so and 
so,'' or "I feel happy," or any thing of that sort? 
I have no doubt she felt that she was forgiven 
and felt very happy. But what was the high- 
est — not the only — evidence to that woman that 
her sins were forgiven? It was the word of 
Jesus Christ. He said so, and that ended the 
controversy. Now, my friends, that is just the 
way it ought to be with us to-day. I believe in 
feeling; I believe in heart-felt, experimental reli- 
gion; I believe in heart-felt Holy Ghost religion. 
But what is to be the highest evidence to a man 
that his sins are forgiven and that he is a child 
of God? Is it his feelings? or is it the word 
of God? Which is it to be: his frame of mind 
and emotions, or the word of God? That is the 
vital question. I answer that we will settle it just 
as the woman settled it, by the word of God, 
Read 1 John v. 13: "These things" — what 
things ? The things in this book. — " These things 



28 



Bible Readings. 



have I written unto you " — unto whom? u unto 
you that believe on the name of the Son of God ' ' 
— for what purpose ? 1 1 that ye may know that ye 
have eternal life." That is God's word. Let a 
man, then, receive Jesus Christ as presented in 
God's word; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as 
presented in that word, and claim what God has 
promised in that word. Let him rest upon the 
assurance that God will do what he promises. 
That is what Abraham did. He staggered not at 
the promise, but he believed that what God had 
promised he was able to perform; and he claimed 
what God had promised; and in claiming it he got 
the blessing. 

What does Jesus Christ say to you and me? — 
John vi. 47: " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
that believeth on me hath everlasting life." 
There is one condition. What is that? That I 
am to believe on Jesus Christ. And there is one 
promise, that I am to have eternal life when I do 
that. Now, there is just one question for me to 
settle. Do I, deep down in my heart, believe in 
Jesus Christ, as God's Son and my Savior? I am 
to settle that question. That is the only question 
I am to settle. I am as conscious as I am of my 
existence that I do believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
that I do believe that Jesus is God's Son and my 
Savior. I believe that with all my heart. Now, 
God says if I so believe, I have eternal life. Then, 
I claim eternal life on God's promise, and claim- 
ing it on God's promise I am standing on sure 
ground. 



At Jesus' Feet. 



29 



In addition to that, I know that I have passed 
from death unto life, because I love the brethren. 
In addition to that, as a result of that, God's 
testimony is added to mine that I am his child, 
and as a result of that knowledge, based on God's 
word, my heart is glad and it is happy, and, like 
Job of old, I know that my Redeemer liveth. 

Now, as to this precious, blessed assurance, if 
you were to ask me how I know I am a Christian I 
would not answer, Because I feel so and so. Some 
days I feel happy, and some days I do n't feel very 
happy. It is a question of reliance on God's word. 
It is not a question of feeling. 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt 
be saved. Hence, the statement, u Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, he that heareth my word" — 
believe th on me as presented in that word — " hath 
eternal life." Ah, my friends you don't make 
enough of your Bible; you don't read your Bible. 
You hear a sermon and then you go about in a 
sort of a sentimental kind of groping-around-in- 
the-dark. Take hold of the promises of God, and 
remember that faith is not sentimentalism, but it 
is real, intelligent grasping, taking hold of what 
God said, and believing he will do what he said, 
and then claiming what God offers. 

The next thing obtained at the feet of Jesus 
was rest — Luke viii. 35: " Then they went out 
to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and 
found the man, out of whom the devils were 
departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, 
and in his right mind, and they were afraid." 



3° 



Bible Readings. 



There was the man that a little while ago 
dwelt among the tombs, and had no rest day or 
night; no rest for soul, no rest for mind, no rest 
for body. And the next time you see him he is 
sitting at the feet of Jesus, and he is clothed, and 
he is in his right mind, and he has rest; rest 
from sin, rest from the demons, rest for the con- 
science, rest for the soul. 

Dear dying sinner, God says there is no rest 
for you. There is no rest for the wicked. They 
are like the troubled sea that can not rest. And 
you know it is so; you have no rest of conscience, 
no rest of soul, no rest of heart, no rest of assur- 
ance, no rest of communion with God, no rest 
of forgiven sin. Jesus knew that Hear how 
tenderly he speaks to you, " Come unto me all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of 
me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls ; ' 5 the rest of assur- 
ance, of sweet communion, of precious fellowship 
with God, of delightful abiding with Jesus ; such 
rest as John found at the supper leaning there with 
his head on the bosom of Jesus. That is rest, 
John at the supper, Mary sitting at his feet, dy- 
ing Stephen gazing up into heaven. And this 
rest that God gives his dear children is like 
the rest of the central sea. The surface is 
always in commotion, but we are told that in the 
depths of the central sea there is a quietude that 
no cyclone ever disturbs. So, thank God, it 
ought to be with us; on the surface there are a 



At Jesus' Feet. 



3i 



great many things that create commotion, but 
standing with both feet on the rock, the word 
of God, there is peace, there is rest, that this old 
world can neither give nor take away. Thank 
God, it is lasting, blessed, eternal. 

But I hear some poor, restless, weary, unhappy 
soul out yonder who is like Noah's dove — on the 
wing all the time, and with no place to rest the 
soles of his feet — I hear him say : c ' Preacher, do 
you mean to say that what you are talking about 
now is a realized fact with any body in this vale 
of tears?" Yes, I mean to say just exactly that. 
It is a fact, so far as many of these dear saints of 
God are concerned, and I thank God, if I may tell 
just a little of my own experience for the Master's 
glory, it is a fact so far as my own heart is con- 
cerned. We ought to tell our experience not boast- 
ingly, but in all the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and entice men to seek such a Savior. I gave my 
heart to God a long time ago. I am sure that God 
is my Father, that Jesus is my Savior and my Elder 
Brother, that the Holy Spirit is my Comforter, that 
the word of God is my guide, that heaven is my 
home. I am willing to live, ready to die. I am 
going to heaven when I die. I intend to do all the 
good I can while I stay here. I do not care much 
which way it is, how soon I go, nor how long I 
stay; I have left it all with God. It is joy, happi- 
ness, contentment, satisfaction; all is well. I have 
God's word for it that all things work together 
for good to them that love God. It is a joy to 
sing: 



32 



Bible Readings. 



" I am happy all day long, 
Jesus is my Savior ; 
And all my life is full of song — 
Jesus died for me." 

Dear sinner, you don't know any thing about 
that. I know you do n't, and that is the reason I 
tell it to you. Will you come to my Savior? He 
loves you as well as he loves me, and 4 4 I would 
that my Savior were your Savior too." Will you 
come and partake of that peace that floweth like a 
river ? 

The third thing we get at Jesus' feet is instruc- 
tion. Luke x. 39: "And she had a sister called 
Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his 
word." What did Mary get at the feet of Jesus? 
Instruction — that good part which should not be 
taken from her. Ah! that is the place to sit — at 
the feet of Jesus. It makes a great deal of differ- 
ence at whose feet we sit. You let a man sit at the 
feet of John Wesley and he will make a Wesleyite 
or Methodist out of him; let him sit at the feet of 
John Calvin and he will make a Calvinist or Pres- 
byterian out of him; let him sit at the feet of 
Richard Beard and he will make a Beardite or 
Cumberland Presbyterian out of him; let him sit 
at the feet of Alexander Campbell and he will make 
a Campbellite out of him; let him sit at the feet 
of Joe Smith and he will make a Mormon out of 
him. Now, barring Joe Smith, these men are a 
grand heritage of God's church. Peace to their 
ashes and to their memory. 

But, dear friends, don't make a mistake in stop- 



At Jesus' Feet. 



33 



ping there. Let us go on beyond these and get 
close up to the feet of Jesus. Let us look up into 
his face and tell him what is in our hearts — our 
troubles, our joys, and our sorrows. Let us learn 
of him. 

Let me give you from God's word an illustration 
of the difference between sitting at Jesus' feet and 
any body else's feet. Do you remember Saul of 
Tarsus? He sat at the feet of Gamaliel, that 
learned doctor of the law, and what did Gamaliel 
make out of Saul of Tarsus ? He made the most 
self-righteous, egotistical, conceited, Pharisaical, 
ecclesiastical bigot the world ever saw. After a 
while Saul of Tarsus changed teachers, and he sat 
at the feet of Jesus; and what did Jesus make out 
Saul of Tarsus after he had been thus warped and 
biased by Gamaliel? He made of him, perhaps, 
the most devoted preacher, the most consecrated 
evangelist, the most thorough-going saint, the most 
self-denying missionary, the most Christ-like disci- 
ple, and the most willing martyr that the world 
ever saw. O friends, let us honor good and great 
men; let us sit at the feet of our pastors and of all 
who are able to teach us; but over and above and 
beyond all these, let us come and get down at Jesus' 
feet. 

The next thing that we get at Jesus' feet is the 
true spirit of thanksgiving. Luke xvii. 16 : 
"And fell down on his face at his feet, giving 
him thanks: and he was a Samaritan." There 
were ten lepers; they had all been blessed by 
the Lord Jesus, and they all went away without 

3 



34 



Bible Readings. 



saying a word of thanksgiving, and one of 
the ten came back and gave thanks. Why did 
Jesus have that put in the word ? In order to 
teach us the great duty of thanksgiving, and how 
acceptable it was unto him. 

Friends, one of the greatest defects in our re- 
ligion to-day is that there is so little of the spirit of 
true, genuine thanksgiving. We are always on the 
beg. Lord, give me this ; Lord, give me that ; Lord, 
give me this other thing. We get what we ask, 
and, like the lepers, we go away scarcely ever stop- 
ping to give thanks. Practice thanksgiving, if you 
never tried it. Will you not try it this evening ? 
Get into the closet and lock the door, not that you 
are ashamed to have any body see you praying, but 
when I pray in secret I want to be secret. Get 
down on your knees and spend five minutes in 
thanksgiving, and nothing but thanksgiving. 
You will find it a little hard to do, unless you are 
accustomed to it. Begin to thank God for his 
grace and love and Spirit and salvation; for the 
gospel and his word; for civil and religious liberty, 
and all the ten thousand advantages with which you 
are blessed; for the glorious hope of immortality. 
Spend five minutes in that way, and it will take all 
of the conceit out of you. It will take all of that 
ecclesiastical starch out of you, and all of that self- 
righteousness. It will take all feelings of self- 
sufficiency out of you; all feelings of enmity and 
animosity out of your heart. And you will not 
pray very long before your heart will be filled 
with love and humility, and in the true sense of 



At Jesus' Feet. 



35 



the word you will say, I am the least of all the 
saints of God. Practice it and it will do your 
heart good. There is nothing that so rejoices the 
heart of the Lord Jesus as this spirit of thanks- 
giving. 

May I tell you a little incident that occurred in a 
Western city ? Several years ago, while holding a 

meeting there I was the guest of the Rev. Dr. , 

one of the hardest worked men I ever knew — pas- 
tor for over a quarter of a century of a great 
church. The people of his immense congregation 
come to talk to him, and the Christian workers 
come to consult him, and many that are in trouble 
go to that dear, good man. Young pastors and 
students go to him for advice, until he is nearly 
worked to death. In addition to other duties, he 
publishes a periodical which is read all around the 
civilized world. Once he had been in his study 
working all day, from early morning. People had 
been coming, one wanting this and another some- 
thing else; each one got what he wanted and left. 
Away late in the evening there was a gentle tap on 
the door, and the Doctor laid down his book and 
said, "Come in." When the door opened it was 
his own sv/eet little girl, five or six years old. The 
Doctor said to her: u Well, Pet, what do you 
want?" "I don't want any thing, father; I 
haven't come for any thing; I just feel as if I want 
to get up in your lap. I want to put both my arms 
around your neck, and kiss you. Papa, I have just 
come in to tell you hew much I love you. ' ' The 
strong man shook with emotion, and was abso- 



36 



Bible Readings. 



lutely overcome. It did his heart good to know 
that somebody had come to tell him that she loved 
him; that somebody had come to pour out her 
heart's affection. And so I imagine it is with the 
Savior that bought us with his blood and washed 
us from our sins. Get down at his feet affection- 
ately and lovingly and trustingly; look up in his 
face and say, u Dear Savior, precious Lord Jesus, 
I have come to thank you for your truth, for 
your grace, for your salvation. I haven't come 
to ask any thing, but to pour out my heart in 
gratitude and praise and thanksgiving for your 
matchless grace." Ah, dear saint, that is the 
holy perfume, the holy incense that goes up to 
God in heaven. I am ashamed of my base, black 
ingratitude. Let us have more of the spirit of 
thanksgiving. 

Another thing we get at Jesus' feet, is the spirit 
of intercession. Mark vii. 25: u For a certain 
woman, whose young daughter had an unclean 
spirit, heard of him and came and fell at his feet." 
What did that poor Syrophoenician woman get at 
the feet of Jesus ? She got the spirit of true, genu- 
ine intercession. She came there and she* inter- 
ceded for her child until she obtained a blessing. 
What a lesson is here for you Christian mothers. 
What a lesson is here for you Christian wives who 
have husbands and children that are out of Christ. 
Did you spend some time this morning interced- 
ing at the feet of Jesus for them ? I am afraid that 
some of you have not done much interceding to- 
day for any body. Dear Christians, saints of God, 



At Jesus' Feet. 



37 



we must intercede. God delights to give ear to 
the importunate prayer. You who can not give 
up your dear ones, intercede and continue to in- 
tercede. 

Several years ago I was holding a meeting in 
Illinois, and one morning I had a little thanksgiv- 
ing service. One lady said: U I want to thank 
God for the conversion of my husband last 
night. Three times a day for twenty-one years I 
prayed for that husband, and last night he was 
converted here in the meeting." You can't give 
up this intercession; you can't afford to 
do it. 

Let me tell you a true story about a mother in- 
terceding for her child. In Texas there lived for 

thirty-five or forty years a Rev. Dr. . He 

married a widow who had a godless son, and in 
the course of a number of years this son grew up 

to be very wicked and abandoned. Dr. died, 

and a few years after his death the woman died. 
There are people living there now who told me the 
facts. Just before the mother died she called her 
friends around her and said : u I am going to die. 
My boy is godless, profane, and a drunkard. But 
I have interceded with the Master for him, and I 
have pleaded with the God of the covenant, and he 
has given me the assurance that he is going to save 
my boy." That was a number of years ago. 
About three years ago I was there in that town 
holding a meeting, and we were having a gracious 
time. We had gone to the Opera House to have 
a room large enough. One Saturday morning 



38 



Bible Readings. 



among others converted was this very man, then 
grown to be old. He was sitting in the back 
part of the Opera House, and my wife was by him 
reading him some passages from the word. His 
heart received the scripture, and he came to 
Christ. 

That Saturday morning he walked forward 
and came to the rail and said: "Thank God a 
mother's prayers are answered, and I am saved.' ' 
It looked as if heaven and earth were coming to- 
gether that morning. There were those who re- 
membered that dying mother, and the words she 
uttered on her death bed, and I think if the saints 
in heaven ever do look over the battlements of 
glory, they looked over that morning. And I was 
there some time after that to help raise some 
money for the Young Men's Christian Association, 
and that man sat on the platform a godly, conse- 
crated man. Mothers, have faith in the covenant, 
and intercede earnestly with the Lord Jesus Christ 
for your children. 

The next thing we get at Jesus' feet is consola- 
tion. Mark v. 22: "And behold, there cometh 
one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, 
and when he saw him he fell at his feet." What 
did Jairus get at Jesus' feet ? He obtained consola- 
tion. This man's daughter was afflicted, yea, even 
unto death, and the poor man's heart was bleeding, 
aching, lacerated. Where did he go? He didn't 
go and get drunk. He didn't go off to infidelity 
nor to agnosticism. He went to Jesus and fell 
down at his feet, and, thank God, he obtained 



At Jesus' Feet. 



39 



consolation. Christ restored unto him his 
daughter. 

Just so it is with us, my friends. Suffering and 
sorrow are the lot of humanity. I look around 
here to-day, and every day, and I see crape here 
and there and yonder. I know what that means; 
it means sorrow and grief; it means that the water 
and the billows have rolled deep over your soul. 
Sorrowing one, let me say to you : Look to the 
Lord Jesus, put your faith in him, and thank God 

u Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven can not heal." 

And thank God, in the Lord Jesus Christ there 
is consolation for every suffering, sad, aching heart 
this morning. God may have taken your little 
one. If he did, it was right. The Judge of all the 
earth will do right. Perhaps he wanted to transplant 
that little bud close up yonder by the throne in 
that paradise of God, where the frost of sin will 
never nip it. Perhaps he took a dear one; God 
knows best. Leave it with him; I care not how 
deep the sorrow is, submit it all to Jesus. You never 
endured such sorrow as he did. Put it all in his 
hand; trust him sweetly, and he w r ili fill your heart 
with joy. As you look through the tear drops 
that roll down from your eyes there will be the 
rainbow of light and love and joy. 

Lastly, we get at Jesus' feet the spirit and life of 
true, genuine worship. Matthew xxviii. 9 : u And 
as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met 
them, saying, All hail. And they came and held 
him by the feet and worshiped him." They wor- 



4 o 



Bible Readings. 



shiped at the feet of Jesus; not on the rugged 
heights of philosophy; not in the depths of science 
and geology. You may dig there for some things, 
but you will never find the spirit of worship by 
digging there. Not on the cold, icy plains of 
stoicism, but at the feet of Jesus they obtained the 
spirit of worship, the right of worship, the privi- 
lege of worship, and the benefits of worship. Ah, 
friends, the place to worship God is at the feet of 
God's Son. 

There is something about that verse I want to 
explain. You know you read over there in an- 
other place where Christ said to the woman, 
4 4 Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my 
Father, ' ' and here he lets them come and embrace 
him by the feet; and some people have been very 
much confused and troubled as to why Jesus did 
let Mary touch him at one time and forbade it at 
another. What is the explanation ? He had not 
yet ascended to his Father. Let us not try to throw 
any of our moonshine on this; let us let God's sun- 
light interpret his sunlight. In Leviticus you will 
find that when the high-priest had offered an 
atoning sacrifice, no mortal could touch him until 
he had gone into the holy of holies and presented 
that blood to Almighty God there in the presence 
of the divine Shekinah. Now, to-day Jesus Christ 
is the high-priest and atoning Lamb of God; and 
after he offered that atoning sacrifice on the cross, 
and after it had been accepted by his being raised 
from the dead, before mortal man could touch him, 
he must ascend to the holy of holies above, and pre- 



At Jesus' Feet. 



4i 



sent that atoning blood to Almighty God in the 
sanctum sanctorum of that temple not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. Then he descended 
again and gave his final instructions, and in due 
time took his formal and final ascent from the 
Mount of Olives. 



CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 



THE topic this morning is, ' ' Christ and 
Believers; " the text, John ii. .25, 26: u Jesus 
said unto her, I am the resurrection and the 
life: he that believeth in me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou 
this?" 

I am not going to talk about the resurrection. 
That is one thing taught in the text, and I some- 
times give a Bible reading on the resurrection; but 
the great thought in this verse, to my mind, is the 
connection between Christ and those that believe 
in Christ. Have we life ? It is because the life 
is in Christ, Have we salvation? It is because 
of the salvation there is in Jesus Christ. There- 
fore our life, our salvation, our hope, our joy, our 
future, our glory, our peace, our immortality- — all 
are wrapped up in the person of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Hence, the apostle says that " Christ is 
all, and in all," and Christ himself says, "I am 
Alpha and Omega" — that is, the beginning, the 
middle, and the end. All that is included in the 
text. 

So I want to talk to you this morning about 

(42) 



Christ and Believers. 43 



Christ and believers. And let me say, friends, one 
reason the majority of Christians do not live up 
to their responsibility is that they have never 
taken in from God's word the sense of what 
their responsibilities as Christians are; the reason 
they do not live up to their privileges is that 
they have never comprehended from God's word 
what their privileges in Christ are. The reason 
many of us are living down on a low plane at 
this poor, dying, miserable rate is that we have 
never understood all there is for us in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. I hope as we study God's blessed 
word we will take in the thought of the respon- 
sibility, the privilege, the honor, the glory, there 
is in being a believer in Jesus Christ. 

I am going to give you six verses of Scripture 
to be read, each one of which presents a specific 
and distinct responsibility, obligation, or privilege 
of a believer. 

The first one is that we are witnesses for Christ. 
Hear the word, Acts i. 8: u But ye shall receive 
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and 
unto the uttermost part of the earth. ' ' 

There is a distinct obligation and responsibility 
resting upon us as Christians, as believers in 
Christ. We are to testify on the great witness 
stand before a lost world ; to be witnesses for the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Will you accept the high 
honor that there is in that place? I imagine 
Gabriel would leap clear over the battlements 



44 



Bible Readings. 



of glory for the privilege of coming down here 
and walking these streets and telling poor sonls 
abont Jesus. But God has never given him that 
honor. He conferred great honor upon an angel 
when he sent Michael to guard the body of Moses 
when the devil was contending for it. He sent 
another angel down here to take Lazarus to 
Abraham's bosom when he was dying, and he 
sent Gabriel here to carry a special message to 
Daniel. But he has never sent one of his angels 
into the midst of guilty, lost sinners, to tell about 
the cross of the Lord Jesus, to tell about the 
love of God shed abroad in the heart, to be a 
witness of the saving power of the Son of God. 
That is an honor God has conferred exclusively 
upon redeemed saints, exclusively upon sinners 
saved by grace. O Christians, when I think how 
Gabriel and Michael and those tall archangels 
would rejoice at this privilege, I am struck with 
amazement when I see so many Christians reluct- 
ant, shirking, trying to get out of saying a word 
for Jesus. O you have never understood the 
high honor that God has conferred upon you. 
Not only is it an honor but it is a blessed priv- 
ilege. It is a privilege to tell of such a benefactor 
as Jesus, of such a Savior, of the love he has— to 
talk about such a Friend. I love to tell about 
Christ; I love to preach the gospel; I love to 
proclaim these glorious things of the Son of God. 

Some people think it is not much honor or 
privilege to be a preacher. I don't know what 
you think about it, but I would not exchange 



Christ and Believers. 45 



places with Cleveland and Harrison both in one. 
God's faithful witnesses have honor, distinction, 
privilege, glory that Gabriel never had, much less 
senators and presidents. And, thank God, this 
is your privilege, the privilege of every one here. 
Not perhaps as an evangelist, not perhaps as an 
ordained preacher, but as a disciple of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, like the woman at Jacob's well in 
Samaria, it is your privilege to speak out your 
own testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
friends, think again about how short the time 
will be. It will not be long that you will have 
the privilege of standing with the word of the 
Savior in your hands, and telling lost, blind, 
ignorant sinners about Jesus and his love — about 
his grace and his glory, his peace communion 
and sweet fellowship. That will all soon be over, 
and you will go to your Father. 

There are a great many privileges and glories 
in heaven, but there is one you have here that 
you will not have there, the privilege of telling 
lost sinners about Christ, of winning a soul to 
Jesus. One of the strongest ties that hold me 
to this world is this : that it is only in this world 
that I will ever be able to tell about my Master 
and win souls thereby to the Lord. High, pre- 
cious, blessed, glorious privilege! 

And now I ask you, dear saints, can you have 
the love of God shed abroad in your hearts, and 
live in the midst of unsaved people without a 
word of testimony? Perhaps your wife is not a 
Christian ? Have you said any thing to her about 



4 6 



Bible Readings. 



Jesus? Perhaps your daughters are not Chris- 
tians. Have you spoken a word for Jesus to 
them? Perhaps the clerk in your store is not a 
Christian. Have you said to him a word for 
Jesus? Perhaps your partner in business is un- 
saved. Have you given out any testimony for 
Jesus ? O dear dying man, if you have not, you 
are recreant to the high trust that Jesus Christ 
committed to you when he said, u Ye shall be 
witnesses for me." 

But I hear somebody say, "How are we to 
witness? " You are to witness in all the relations 
of life in which you are thrown with your fellow- 
men. Are you a wife; are you a house-keeper; 
are you a mother ? You are so to act as to honor 
Christ as a wife, and as a mother; you are to 
keep your house, control your children, regulate 
your domestic duties, and govern your servants 
in every way so as in the doing of it the Lord 
Jesus will be honored in you as one of his saints. 
That is your high mission. Are you a man ? Are 
you in business? Then it is your duty to take 
your religion into your business; it is your duty 
in your business to testify for Jesus. Are you a 
lawyer? Then deal with your client, and with 
the jury, with the law, with the facts, as Jesus 
would if he were pleading that case here in court. 
When you do that you will not be driving away 
a bad witness to keep from losing a case. Are you 
a doctor ? Then practice medicine as you believe 
Jesus Christ would; and if you do that you will 
not come to those patients that are just a little 



Christ and Believers. 47 



sick and then give them a lot of medicine to make 
them so sick as to give you an excuse for giving 
them a great deal more and making a large bill. 
Are you a merchant? Then have a yard-stick 
exactly thirty-six inches long, and have a weight 
that weighs exactly sixteen ounces to the pound; 
do not sell any tainted meat if you are a butcher; 
or, if you are a grocer, do not put any pebbles in 
the coffee. 

To be a Christian is, in all the relations of life, 
to duplicate the life of Jesus Christ. Let us 
show by our conduct and conversation that the 
religion of Christ will make us better men and 
women, better husbands and wives, better fathers 
and mothers, better lawyers, better doctors, better 
physicians, better merchants, better citizens. 
That is what Christianity ought to be; and the 
great high mission that you have in this world, 
is to testify to the world, and then prove your 
testimony by your life, showing what Christianity 
will do for a man. 

Again you can testify for Christ by never having 
4 4 the blues, " or being melancholy and downcast. 
I have very little patience with people who claim 
to be God's children, saved by grace, and then 
go on and look as solemn as if they had been 
dead a week. We ought to make the impression 
on this world that our hearts are glad, that our 
souls are happy, and that we rejoice in God our 
Savior. We ought to make our religion so 
attractive that the poor, dying sinner, when he 
sees us, will feel that we have something that 



4 8 



Bible Readings. 



he has not — something better than he has known. 
That is our privilege and that is our duty — to be 
witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And you may notice another thing, the univer- 
sality, the perpetualness of this witnessing both 
as to time and place. What did he say? u At 
Jerusalem" — that meant home; " in Samaria" — 
that was the adjoining county or state; "and 
in all Judea " — that was the surrounding country; 
"and to the uttermost part of the earth" — that 
is, everywhere. At all times and places we are 
to witness for Jesus Christ. 

But there are some people in this city that 
forget this. Here is a faithful Sunday-school 
worker. He goes down to attend the World's 
Exposition at New Orleans, and on Sunday visits 
Bads' jetties on an excursion. He wouldn't do 
that at home, and yet Jesus is down there at 
Eads' jetties, and this Sunday-school teacher 
knows it. You good elders and deacons will not 
go to the theater or circus here at home, per- 
haps, and there are a great many other things 
you would not do here; but you go up yonder 
to New York to buy goods, and you will go to 
the theaters and circuses there, and to many 
other places; and you will feel, " I am on a kind 
of a religious furlough, and nobody sees me nor 
knows me, and I will not compromise my influ- 
ence." The Lord Jesus Christ is there; he will 
see you and he knows. 

Let us then at all times and in all places 
be out and out witnesses for the Lord Jesus 



Christ and Believers. 



49 



Christ. Do you know why some of you do not 
enjoy religion any more than you do? You will 
not testify for Christ. He has put you on the 
witness stand and you refuse to testify. What 
does the court do with a witness that will not 
testify ? He is sent to jail for contempt of 
court till he will give his testimony. And some 
of you are shut up to-day in Doubting Castle; 
you are as cold as an iceberg, and as dead as 
an Egyptian mummy, because you will not speak 
out for Jesus. 

Let us come out and testify for our L,ord. It 
is a precious, glorious, blessed privilege. But do 
you know what a great many church members 
do? Instead of testifying for Jesus, they testify 
against him. I will give you an illustration. 
Suppose there are here two hotels; both tolerably 
good hotels. Here is a traveling man, we will 
say. He comes and puts up at one of the hotels 
and stays there four or five months, and every 
body in town finds out that he stays at that 
hotel. After a while he goes and stays at the 
other, and a friend meets him on the street and 
says, "Why, John, I thought you were staying 
at Mr. A's hotel." " Yes, so I was." " Why 
did you change?" "I didn't like the bill 
of fare over there; this bill of fare is a great deal 
more palatable. " What is he doing? Testifying 
against the first hotel, and for the second. Now 
God's church may be called the gospel inn — the 
gospel hotel; when you are converted and join 
the church, you put up at the gospel inn. And 
4 



50 Bible Readings. 

there is the bill of fare, the bread of life, the 
water of life, the wine of gladness, and the com- 
munion of life. The devil has a hotel too, with 
a monstrously long bill of fare; whisky, and cards, 
and hops, and balls, and deception, and profanity, 
and circuses, and shows, and five thousand other 
things too numerous to mention. But you have 
gone to the church, to this gospel inn, attended 
the church right well for a little while, and after 
a while you drop off, quit going to church, are 
hardly ever seen there, are never seen at the 
communion table. You have quit all that. You 
are never seen at the prayer-meeting, and hardly 
ever at the Sabbath morning service unless the 
day is exceedingly pleasant. Where else are you 
seen? In the devil's hotel, drinking whisky, 
playing cards, dancing and carousing and buying 
lottery tickets and betting on horse-races. The 
sinner concludes — what? That you like the bill 
of fare at the devil's hotel better than at God's 
hotel; that you like the world better than the 
church; and you are virtually saying, "I have 
tried the bread of life, and it was dry living; I 
have tried the water of life, it is not strong 
enough; I have tried communion and fellowship 
with the saints; there is not much in it. If you 
want to have a good time and enjoy yourself 
and live high and fare sumptuously every day, 
and, I might add, go to hell at last, go and put 
up at the devil's hotel, and you will have a good 
time." That is what you are doing, testifying 
against Christ, many of you. Hence, Christ says 



Christ and Believers. 



to this class exactly, "If therefore the light that 
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. " 

Another privilege which devolves upon us by 
virtue of our being Christians is that we are 
God's epistles, z Cor. iii. 3: " For as much as 
ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of 
Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, 
but with the Spirit of the living God; not in 
tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart." 

We are "written not with ink, but with the Spirit 
of the living God:" therefore Christians are called 
the epistles of the Lord. What about an epistle ? 
In the first place it ought to be legible, and if God 
wrote it it is legible. In the second place it ought 
to be readable. But I hear somebody say, ' 1 If 
it is legible, I guess it is readable." Not every 
time. What is printed and written in the book 
which I hold up before you is legible, and it is 
now also readable. But suppose I lay it down 
there, and throw open all these windows, and 
leave open these doors, and there comes one of the 
long, dry, dusty spells which you sometimes have 
here. You may let the dust settle on the open page 
until it gets so thick that the printed words, though 
still legible, though not blotted out, are no longer 
readable, because you can't see them. That is 
about the condition of a great many people wdio 
are church members. We will grant that they 
are born of God, and that the writing on their 
hearts is legible; but they have aired themselves 
around here in Vanity Fair, and have dusted 
around with the devil's disciples, until they are 



52 



Bible Readings. 



covered so thick with the dust of the world and 
worldly-mindedness and conformity, that when 
you see them you don't read the words of Jesus 
or recognize the spirit of Christ. Dear saints 
of God, let us not only be legible, but readable 
epistles; and if the dust of the world is settling 
upon us let us take the dust-brush of prayer and 
the water of the word, and let us cleanse our- 
selves from this dust, and become once more 
such epistles of the Lord Jesus that all who see 
us will read Christ. Do you know how it was 
with the early disciples, Peter, James, and John ? 
When the people saw them they took knowledge 
of them that they had been with Jesus. I will 
tell you, friends, if you live close to Christ, if you 
live in communion and fellowship with him; 
if you follow his example, you will manifest the 
spirit of Christ, and you will have the mind and 
image of Christ, and all who see you and come 
in contact with you will know that you have been 
with Jesus. Christians, here is our privilege: to 
live so close to Christ, and in such communion 
with him, that when men read us they will read 
the love of Jesus, the spirit, the meekness, the 
humility, the consecration, the self-denial, and the 
devotion of Jesus. In other words, when they 
look into our hearts, lives, and conduct they will 
see the image of the Lord Jesus. O Christian, 
that is an honor worthy of the aspiration of a 
saint and an immortal soul. 

Our next high privilege and obligation grow 
out of the truth that we are crucified with Christ. 



Christ and Believers. 53 



Gal. vi. 14: "But God forbid that I should 
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I 
unto the world." 

You are ail familiar with the first part of that 
verse, * i God forbid that I should glory save in 
the cross. " We all say that. Did you notice 
the last part, " by whom?" That is, " by the 
cross on which Christ was crucified ye are crucified 
unto the world, and by this cross the world is 
crucified to you." That is the idea. 

Now, let us speak a little about the Bible idea 
of the cross. A great many people have a very 
mistaken idea about the cross. You all hear 
men talk this way : u O I have taken up my cross. 
I began to ask a blessing at my table, I have 
family prayers, I pray in public, I am beginning 
to teach a Sunday-school class." God bless your 
soul, that is not the Bible idea of the cross at 
all. Those things are duties, those things are 
simple service; they are not the cross. 

Again, the word u cross" in the Bible, in 
neither the English, Greek, or Hebrew, is ever 
used in the plural number. You can 't find the 
word u crosses" in the book of God. It is one 
cross, the cross on which Christ suffered, as an out- 
cast, the ignominious death. Hence, the words, 
" Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify 
the people with his own blood, suffered without 
the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto him 
without the camp, bearing his reproach." 

What was Christ on the cross? What was his 



54 



Bible Readings. 



position ? A position of rejection by the world, 
of isolation from the world, of odinm and con- 
tempt. In addition to that it was a position 
of dying and of death to the world, a position 
in which he became dead to the world. Then, 
the Bible idea of the cross is this: To take a stand 
of isolation, of rejection; to be willing to be 
derided, sneered at, scoffed at, ridiculed for being 
identified with Jesus; to take a position right side 
by side with him; to become dead to the world 
as he was, while the world is dead to you as it was 
to him. That is the Bible idea of the cross. And 
right there comes the tug of war in the Christian 
life in our day. Are you willing to be regarded 
by this little, light-headed, silly, empty, farcical 
society as a crank, as a fanatic, as a fool? Are 
you willing to be thought a straight-laced extrem- 
ist, because of your identification with the Lord 
Jesus ? Are you ? That is the cross. Are you 
willing to get right up there by the side of Christ 
and bear that? That, my dear friends, is the 
Bible idea of the cross. Isolation and insulation 
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You will have to 
attain to this if you are going to be useful; if 
you are going to be worth any thing in the house 
and in the vineyard of God. 

Let me illustrate: I notice your telegraph wires 
have a pole, and then you have a stick away up 
there nailed on to the end of the pole, and then 
you have a piece of glass fitting right down on 
the end of the stick. They say they want to 
have the wire insulated and isolated. Why ? In 



Christ and Believers. 55 



order that the electric current may flow through 
the wire without being hindered by the stick 
or the pole or the ground. Now, let there come a 
storm and break the wires down from that position 
of insulation and isolation, and get it down in 
the mud and sand; the electric current will not 
pass through that wire, because it is not in its 
proper position. It is not isolated and insulated. 
Just so with the saints of God. They are to take 
a stand up here on the cross with Jesus Christ, and 
they are to be so identified with him that the curse 
of worldliness is cut off from them, and also in 
order that the divine current of the light and 
love of the Holy Ghost may flow through them, 
and shed the light and glory of God down upon a 
dark world. That is why Christ says, 1 4 If any 
man will be my disciple let him deny himself 
and take up the cross. ' ' He does not say 4 c Simply 
pray in public, or teach in the Sunday-school, " 
but, ' ' Get up here beside me, and let the world 
alone, be dead to the world, and let the world be 
dead to you. ' ' Do you take church members and 
Christians down from that exalted position in 
connection with Jesus Christ, and mix them up 
and stir them up with a lot of godless hops and 
progressive euchre parties, with worldliness and 
Sunday desecration, and expect the divine current 
to flow through them ? No, no. Do you expect 
the Holy Ghost to move through them and win 
souls to Jesus? Are you looking for the light 
from God's throne to shine through them upon a 
lost world ? No, sir. It is as unscientific, as un- 



56 



Bible Readings. 



philosophic, as absurd as it would be to expect 
that telegraph wire down there in the mud and 
sand, and brick and dirt, and trash and weeds, to 
transmit the electric current. The thing can not 
be done. God knew that, and therefore he said, 
" Come ye out from among them and be ye sep- 
arate. ' ' God knew that, and hence he said to 
Abraham, "Get thee out of thy country, and from 
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a 
land that I will show thee. ' ' 

Saints of God, I ask you, will you give up this 
high honor, this privilege and glory, for the poor, 
miserable mess of pottage that you get by your 
worldliness, and worldly-mindedness, and worldly 
conformity? Will you do it? I would not sell 
such a birthright at such a miserable price. Talk 
to me about your vain and hollow, worldly society ! 
There is nothing in it. It is empty, cold, and dead ; 
and, as Solomon, who tried it, said, " vanity and 
vexation of spirit." 

I agree with Thomas Carlyle in one thing es- 
pecially: I do despise a sham and a fraud; and I 
tell you we have one miserable sham in this coun- 
try — people saying they are crucified with Christ, 
that they are God's saints, dead to the world, and 
the world dead to them, while they are mixing and 
mingling with the world in every thing just as if 
they did not pretend to be Christians. It is a sham 
and a fraud. 

Suppose I have a man here dead, physically. I 
stretch him out here on this platform, turn him 
over on his back, put his hands across his bosom, 



Christ and Believers. 57 



close his eyes. He is dead. Now, start a little 
godless hop, begin to play the violin; start a little 
progressive euchre party, open a whisky shop, get 
up a little poker party, a whist party, a horse-race, 
build a gambling saloon, a theater, or start a circus, 
with its clown ridiculing the Bible. Now, I sub- 
mit that if when the violin begins to play he be- 
gins to shake his foot he is not dead; if, when the 
glasses begin to rattle in that saloon and the money; 
to clink in that gambling den, he begins to crawl 
off the platform and starts to join in the game of 
poker he is not dead. Dead men don't play 
poker, nor crawl, nor walk. See what a farce it 
would be to call him a dead man. He is not dead. 
Now, let me ask, what is it for a man to be dead 
with Christ? His life is hid with Christ in God. 
What is it to be crucified with Christ ? It is to be 
put there on that cross, and to be so thoroughly iden- 
tified with Christ that we are as dead to those things 
spiritually as is the man in his grave to them phys- 
ically? Here is a man who says: u Yes, I am dead 
to the world; I am one of God's saints; I am cru- 
cified with the Lord Jesus; I am dead with Christ, 
and my life is hid with Christ in God." Every 
time there comes a little circus he crawls off the 
stage and goes into the circus. He crawls down 
off the cross and goes down to the gambling den. 
Is he dead and crucified with Christ? No, sir; it 
is a farce, a sham to say that he is. May God help 
us to take our places by the side of Jesus Christ and 
show by our lives that we are dead to these things, 
and that they are dead to us. 



58 



Bible Readings. 



Another thing is that we are heirs of God and 
joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Rom. viii. 17: u And 
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that 
we may be also glorified together." 

Hence that wonderful inventory that Paul took 
of a saint's possessions: "All things are yours, and 
ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." How great 
is the honor, the distinction, and the glory of being 
an heir of God; an heir of what God is, and also 
an heir of what God has; an heir of what God can 
create, and of what God can give. Talk about 
distinction, talk about your aristocracy, your blue 
blood, and your "first families of Virginia." I 
do n't know whether my blood is very blue or not, 
and I care just about as little as I know. I care as 
little about earthly aristocracy. I want to be akin 
to the Lord Jesus, an heir of God and a joint heir 
with Christ; an heir of heaven and bliss and immor- 
tality. I want to belong to the first families of the 
skies, the first families of heaven, the first families 
of glory, and bliss, and immortality. 

"Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." 
Talk about your Goulds and Vanderbilts, but here 
is more than a millionaire — the man that is an heir 
of God and a joint heir with Jesus. As I think of 
that beautiful heaven, with its streets of gold, and 
down the midst flowing the river of the water of 
life, and on either bank the trees, I thank God 
this heaven is my heaven, for it is my Father's 
heaven; that river is my river, and those trees are 
my trees, for they are my Father's. 



Christ and Believers. 59 



As I heard a good man say the other day, who 
had a darling little child: " Little darling, all that 
I have here is yours; and then mamma and papa 
are yours, too." And that is about my idea of 
heaven. These things are all mine, because God is 
mine and Christ is mine. Thank God, I am an 
heir of the glorious bliss in heaven. Dear friend, 
be an heir of God, of heaven and immortality. 
How precious and blessed that is. And as we, like 
Moses, look away by faith, how little do we care for 
this old world and all there is in it! 

That is glorious and blessed, but now let us be a 
little practical. There are two sides to this ques- 
tion. We need practical preaching as well as 
preaching that makes us glad and happy. We are 
not only heirs of Christ up yonder, but we are heirs 
of Christ down here. Did the world hate Christ? 
You are an heir of that same hatred. He said they 
would hate you also. Did the world reproach 
Christ? It will reproach you. Did the world think 
Christ beside himself? It will think you are be- 
side yourself. Did the world sneer and revile and 
persecute him? It will also revile and persecute 
you. You are heirs of his reproach, of his con- 
tempt, of his hatred, of his persecution, and they 
will heap all these things upon you as certainly 
as God lives. The days of persecution are not 
past. The stake is past, Smithfield is past; but 
what have we to-day ? It is a kind of subtle, re- 
fined, dainty, disguised persecution. 

For instance, you let a young lady come and ac- 
cept Christ and take a bold stand for him — a young 



6o 



Bible Readings, 



lady that has heretofore been going into what is 
called society. How long will it be until you hear 
the young men and the young women saying, u O 
she is a wall-flower; she is left; she is a stick." 
That is one of their set phrases. " She is an old 
maid. 5 ' Then they will begin to snub her at their 
little social gatherings and parties. I know one of 
the first young ladies of an adjoining State who 
had just that experience in the best city in that 
State. 

And here is a young man that will not live as he 
has been living before. What do the boys say? 
"Dick is going to join the presbytery, going to 
conference ;" and they begin to call him " Par- 
son." What does all that mean? It is the same 
godless old world that persecuted Jesus persecuting 
those that follow Jesus. What does the Book say? 
u He that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suf- 
fer persecution." 

But I hear somebody say, "I have been in the 
church a long time, and nobody has ever perse- 
cuted me." And do you know why? Your poor, 
lazy, trifling soul has never done enough to make 
the devil mad enough to want to persecute you. 
The devil never persecutes u dead-heads, " or those 
people who are doing nothing. 

Did you ever hear of that incident of the man 
going along the road and seeing one puny little 
devil sitting upon the fence watching one man, and 
going down the road a little piece farther there sat 
a half a dozen watching another man ? Said he to 
them, u Why are there half a dozen here watching 



Christ and Believers. 6i 



this man, while that man there has just one watch- 
ing him ? ? ' " Why, the man you saw first is one of 
the worst men in the country. He is going right 
down to hell, and one little devil can keep him in 
the broad road. But here is a man trying to serve 
God and do something, trying to be an earnest, 
consecrated Christian, and it will keep six of us 
busy to prevent him from succeeding." If you 
have never been persecuted it is because you have 
never done any thing for Christ, and after a while 
you will be spewed out of his mouth, for you are 
neither hot nor cold. Come out and show your 
colors and take your stand; have some moral back- 
bone in you; stand as unswervingly as Jesus Christ 
and Daniel and Isaiah and Jeremiah stood. And 
so certain as you do this you will meet persecu- 
tion. 

Are you willing to endure these things down 
here in order that you may enjoy the glorious 
things up yonder ? When I think of the glory of 
my Lord, and of that glorious immortality that 
awaits me, and when I think I am going to see 
Jesus — God says I am — and that I shall be like 
him, and that this mortal body will be changed 
into the image of his glorious body, I look down 
with royal contempt upon the graceless, godless 
world that wants to sneer and scoff at religion in 
me. What do I care for those things? I have 
drawn the sword and thrown the scabbard away; I 
am for God and heaven and immortality. Let the 
world say and do as it will. As for me and my 
house, we will serve the Lord. 



62 



Bible Readings. 



When you get above this world and stand, as 
Joshua stood above the kings of Canaan, with 
your foot right down on its neck, then you will be 
glad and happy, then you can go on your way 
rejoicing. Yonder is Peter, following afar off; 
here is John, clinging close to Jesus. It was Peter 
that denied him; it was not John. It is a danger- 
ous thing to follow the Lord afar off. Get up 
close to him. Lay your head on his bosom, as 
John did; cling lovingly to him, and you will miss 
half the temptations that you would otherwise 
come in contact with. 

Again, we will be like Jesus, i John iii. 2 : 
1 * Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we 
shall see him as he is. n 

We are going to be like Jesus. Let these 
scientists cavil as much as they please about the 
resurrection. God says it is going to be, and he 
says these bodies shall be like the glorious body of 
the Son of God. I wish I could have seen him as 
he stood on the mount of transfiguration. But, 
thank God, I will see him, and, thank God, I shall 
be like him, and so will every true son of God. 

I will tell you what this State, as well as these 
United States, needs. It needs more men and 
women that are like Jesus here, in the midst of sin 
and temptation; like Jesus now. We have enough 
of this thought that we are going to be like him 
over yonder. We want a little more of this divine 
likeness down here. May God help us from this 



Christ and Bkuevers. 63 



day forward to be like Jesus here, now, in the fam- 
ily circle, in the social circle, in business; like him 
in love, in humility, in consecration, in fidelity, in 
devotion to God's word and to God's will. Dear 
saints, let me say : If you are like Jesus here, you 
can go on your way rejoicing. There is no question 
about your being like him over yonder. 

We now come to the last thought in this dis- 
course. It is that we are to live with Jesus. John 
xiv. 2, 3: u In my Father's house are many man- 
sions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go 
to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again and receive you 
unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. " 

We are going to be with Jesus, to live with him. 
Hear what he says: "I go to prepare a place for 
you." He has been preparing that place ever since 
the day of his ascension, and after a while he will 
get the house, that bridal chamber, ready; and 
when it is finished he will come again, and what 
will he do ? "I will receive you unto myself, that 
where I am there ye may be also." 

We have a home beyond the skies, above the sun, 
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heav- 
ens, where, with our Lord and Redeemer, we shall 
spend a blissful, glorious eternity. Let us live with 
him while we are down here on earth. Some peo- 
ple have an idea they are to be converted and never 
be with Jesus any more till they get to heaven. I 
thank God that is not my experience. A long time 
ago I laid my faith on him, and from that dav to 
this, U A11 the way long it has been Jesus." 



EFFECTUAL PRAYER. 



HE theme this morning is the u Conditions of 



Effectual Prayer." The text is, James v. 16 : 



1 1 Confess your faults one to another, and pray 
one for another, that ye may be healed. The ef- 
fectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
much." 

I want you to notice the context. Who was 
the person praying ? It was Elias. Did you ever 
notice what he was praying for ? It was for rain, 
about the weather. A great many people think it 
is perfectly fanatical and unscientific and absurd for 
any body to talk about praying for rain. But hear 
what God says about it : u Elias was a man subject 
to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly 
that it might not rain: and it rained not on the 
earth for a space of three years and six months." 
That is pretty good authority for praying about 
the weather. " And he prayed again" — he is 
going to pray in the opposite direction now — " and 
the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth 
her fruit. ' ' Now, let your scientific men, who re- 
ject our God and his providence and his work, re- 
pudiate the idea of praying for rain, if they choose, 
but as long as I have God's word and Elijah's ex- 
ample, as long as the fact remains that God heard 
Elijah when he prayed for dearth and when he 




(64) 



Bible Readings. 



65 



prayed for rain, I am going to pray for whatever I 
need. The world wants to get rid of God in more 
ways than one. 

Now, what is the truth about it ? God has sub- 
jected the world and matter to the reign of law, or 
to the ordinary course of nature, if you will 
call it that. That is very true; but God has not so 
subjected it to those laws that he can not interfere 
when he pleases and control it as he wants to. 

The hands of that clock are subjected to a cer- 
tain law. They run around in accordance with 
that law. But I could take a step-ladder and get 
up there and turn them around the other way. So 
God can make the earth go one way, and he can 
turn it around and make it go the other way. He 
did so on one occasion long enough for Joshua to 
overcome God's enemies. Just so with rain. Rain 
comes and goes according to determined law. But 
when God wants to interfere and suspend those 
laws and suspend the rain he can do it, as he did in 
the days of Elijah ; and when he wants to produce 
a great flood, as he did in the days of Noah, he can 
do it. 

Whenever you talk about praying, and the phi- 
losophy of prayer, and the science of prayer, and 
the tests of prayer, and all of that kind of thing, I 
answer : I do n't know much about the science of 
it, and I care as little as I know. I know very 
little about the philosophy of it, and care as little. 
Here is the way I look at it : God is our Father, 
and we are his children. We come and ask 
him for the things that we need, and he hears us 

5 



66 



Bible Readings. 



and answers us ; and that is science and philosophy 
enough for me. 

To illustrate : Here is a little child and his father 
on a cold winter day. That little boy needs shoes, 
he needs a thicker coat, a new hat, and gloves. 
He comes to his father and says : 4 4 My old shoes 
are almost worn out, my feet are cold. Father, 
will you give me some new shoes ? My coat is out 
at the elbows, and ragged, and will not keep me 
warm. Get me a new coat, please. And my hat 
has holes in it. I wish you would give me a new 
hat. My fingers are sticking out of my old gloves. 
Please get me a new pair. And I am hungry this 
morning. Will you give me some bread?" As 
certain as that is a father, and as certain as that is 
his child, he will give that darling little one what 
he needs. So the little boy eats his breakfast and 
gets his new coat and shoes and hat and gloves and 
away he goes to school, with a glad and happy 
heart. That is science enough and philosophy 
enough for him. And, thank God, that is a pict- 
ure of the heavenly Father's dealings with us who 
need grace and love and intelligence and wisdom 
and help and strength. I go to my Father and I 
ask him for the things I need, and, thank God, I 
know that he gives them. I know that he hears 
me. That is science enough for me, and that is 
philosophy enough. Let these agnostics, who, ac- 
cording to their own profession, know neither our 
God nor any thing else in spiritual things, go on ; 
but we will pray and rejoice in our Father who 
hears and answers prayer. 



Effectual Prayer. 67 

But I want to talk especially to you that are 
Christians on the conditions of effectual prayer. 
Now, God hears prayer, but, mark it, he hears 
prayer on conditions. Some people think, "It 
does not make any difference about conditions. Just 
pray, pray at random; pray about any thing; pray 
in any sort of a way. Of course God hears prayer, 
and if you pray to God he will hear you." He 
will not do it. There are conditions upon which 
he will hear your prayer, and these conditions are 
laid down in God's word, and if you are going to 
pray an effectual prayer you must abide by these 
conditions. Does God save men? Yes, but he 
does not save them except on conditions. No man 
is saved unless he complies with the conditions. 
Just so, are you going to pray an effectual prayer ? 
You must abide by God's conditions. 

Now, what are the conditions ? I shall not give 
you all of them, but I shall give you about seven. 
I am going to let the Bible do its own preaching. 
I shall give you seven verses of scripture, each one 
of which lays down a specific condition upon which 
God promises to hear our prayer. 

The first condition of effectual prayer is fellow- 
ship. Hear the word : John xv. 7 : "If ye abide in 
me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
you will and it shall be done unto you. n Do you 
not see that fellowship is the idea? Abiding in 
Christ means fellowship with Christ, and abiding in 
the word means fellowship with the word. There- 
fore Christ says : 

"If ye are in fellowship with me and with my 



68 



Bible Readings. 



word, ye may ask what ye will and it shall be done 
unto you." 

Now, I hear some shrewd caviler back yonder 
make this remark: u If that is so, then isn't that 
giving unbridled liberty to the human will?" 
No, sir, not at all. I imagine I hear that man say- 
ing, 4 4 If a man has the promise of getting any 
thing he asks for, he may ask for the death of an 
enemy; he may ask for some great calamity to 
come on those he hates; he may ask for a great 
many absurd and ridiculous things. " But if a 
man is abiding in Christ, is in fellowship with 
Christ, and in fellowship with God's word, he will 
not have a will that will prompt him to ask these 
things. He will have a will in fellowship with 
Christ's will, and with God's word, and that will 
always regulate the prayer. He will pray in accord- 
ance with the will of the Master, and, God's word 
for it, he shall have what he asks for. 

Abiding in Christ — what do we mean by it? 
Let scripture interpret and explain scripture. 
Read all of that fifteenth chapter of John, and es- 
pecially that first part. You will hear Jesus say, " I 
am the vine; ye are the branches." Here is a little 
vine and a little branch — the branch abiding in the 
vine. What does that mean? It means that the 
branch is every day and every hour drawing life, 
nutriment, and the power of fruit-bearing from that 
vine — with which it has a living, veritable union. 

What is it to abide in Christ, morally, spir- 
itually? He is the vine. Each individual is a 
branch in Christ. Therefore, the gospel idea is 



Effectual Prayer. 



6 9 



that every day and every hour we are to be draw- 
ing light and life, strength and power, or — if I may 
carry out the figure — spiritual sap and the fruit- 
bearing element, from this great vine, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

But, mark it, if we do that we have to be 
new creatures in Christ Jesus. If we do that we 
must have more than a mere nominal connection 
with God's church. We must have a veritable, ac- 
tual union with the Lord Jesus Christ; a heart 
and soul union, an abiding, spiritual union. That 
is what it is to abide in Christ. 

Now, do you not see, if you do that, Christ's 
fruits will inevitably follow ? Here is the vine and 
the branch abiding in the vine. Now, what is the 
one great concern of that branch ? It is not to be 
worrying itself about how much fruit it is going to 
bear, or what sort of fruit. Its one great concern 
is to keep in communion with the vine, to abide in 
the vine. If it does that, the fruit will take care 
of itself. 

Just so with the Christian. Do n't be bothering 
yourself so much about your creeds and your dogmas 
and your theological abstractions, your metaphysics 
and all of that. Maintain a heart-felt, a deep, 
soul-felt, spiritual union, communion, and fellow- 
ship with the Lord Jesus Christ, day in and day 
out, month in and month out. Your life will take 
care of itself. Your fruit will take care of itself. 
Your joy, your peace, your growth in grace will 
take care of itself. That is a mistaken idea, 
Christian, that you are always to be searching and 



7o 



Bible Readings. 



watching, stopping and looking inward to keep 
yourself in just such a frame of mind. Keep your- 
self in Christ; watch that you stay in communion 
with Christ; watch that you keep close to his bleed- 
ing side, and all these other things will take care 
of themselves. That is what it is to abide in 
Christ. 

What is it to abide in the word ? ( ( Ye abide in 
me, and my words abide in you." Mark it, we are 
to be in Christ, and the word is to be in us. What 
is it to have the word abide in us? It is two 
things. It is, first, to have the word abide in our 
heart, to have God's word well stored away in our 
memory. Now, let me suggest a good rule for 
you. Every morning as you get up, as soon as 
you get out of bed, go to your Bible and read a 
verse over, and begin to repeat it until you have 
memorized it. Keep that up for a year and you 
will know three hundred and sixty-five verses of 
scripture. If we leave out these preachers, I doubt 
if there are three Christians in town that can repeat 
three hundred and sixty-five verses of scripture this 
morning. Get your mind well stored with God's 
promises. If you do that, it will help you out of 
many of the difficulties that you will get into as 
you go along in your Christian life. 

I will give you an illustration. Mary sat at the 
empty grave of Jesus, and she wept; and when she 
was asked the question why she wept, she said, 
"They have taken away my L,ord, and I know not 
where they have laid him." She was troubled be- 
cause Jesus was not in the grave. What did the 



Effectual Prayer. 



7* 



angel say to her ? Mark it, he had been listening to 
what Jesus had said a long time before. " Wist ye 
not, remember ye not his word, how he spoke in 
Galilee, that he would rise again on the third 
day ? ' ' Just as soon as Mary remembered the 
words of Jesus, that he said he would rise the third 
day, the whole trouble vanished; the tears were 
gone, and I have no doubt she thanked God that 
Jesus was not in the grave. In the same way you 
frequently get into temptation, into Doubting 
Castle, or into some terrible trial — all just because 
you have forgotten some promise, some word of 
the Lord. 

Have your mind well stored with God's word to 
help you in your praying. The best way in the 
world to pray is not with a prayer-book, though 
that is a very good way, perhaps, but with God's 
book. I mean that when you go to pray you want 
some specific promise that points to the thing that 
you ask for. You plead that specific promise. 
I would rather plead one specific promise 
of Almighty God for five minutes than pray 
five hours without such a promise. If I may 
use a commercial phrase, God will never repu- 
diate his own paper. The promises are God's 
notes of hand; his blank checks that you are sim- 
ply to fill out. God will never repudiate his paper. 
Get some specific promise and plead that. 

May I give you just one illustration ? Here is a 
promise very precious, especially to preachers: 
u Go ye into all the world and preach my gospel," 
says Jesus, 1 1 and lo, I am with you alway, even 



72 



Bible Readings. 



unto the end of the world. 5 ' The minister goes to 
a strange place. I come in here some night, and 
here are one thousand, twelve hundred, fifteen 
hundred people, good, bad, indifferent — drawn 
hither by curiosity — all eyes, ears, and expec- 
tation. Perhaps nine tenths of the audience have 
come out of mere idle curiosity. If you have 
never tried it, you do not know what it is 
to go before such an audience as that and preach 
the gospel. Before facing such a multitude, it 
gives the preacher comfort and strength to get 
down upon his knees and plead that promise of the 
Savior : 1 i Dear Lord, thou didst tell me to go and 
preach the gospel to these people; thou knowest 
what is sufficient for me; thou didst say, I will go 
with you. Dear Savior, I claim that promise to- 
night. Go with me to-night; give me grace and 
courage and love; give me the Holy Ghost. Help 
me to preach to-night; be with me, in my heart, 
cheering, comforting, strengthening, guiding. ' ' 

Again, here is a promise that will apply to all of 
us, whether we preach or not. God says, ' 4 1 will 
help you." Are you in any strait, in any trial, in 
any place where you need help? Go to your 
closet and get down upon your knees and say, 
" Father, I am thy child; Father, thou didst say, I 
will help thee. Father, I need thy help here and 
now, help in this particular emergency. Father, 
help me, I believe thou wilt do it Thou hast 
said, 'I will help thee,' and I claim thy promise, 
I expect the help because thou hast promised it." 
I '11 tell you God will help you. 



Effectual Prayer. 



73 



Now, put those things together. Here is a man 
with a heart-felt, soul-felt communion with Jesus 
Christ, abiding in Christ, his head and his heart 
full of God's blessed word. Let that man get 
down to pray; let that man like Elijah bow before 
God, and something is going to move in heaven 
and earth. Well might Queen Mary say she was 
more afraid of John Knox on his knees than she 
was of any army in Scotland. A man abiding in 
God's word in prayer, while God' s word abides in 
him, is one of the grandest powers this world ever 
saw. 

Do you know what David says about the word ? 
He says, u Thy word have I hid in my heart that 
I might not sin against thee." The best antidote, 
the best preventive of sin is God's word hid away 
in our hearts. Have it in your head to repeat the 
sweet promises; have it in your heart to keep your 
feet from sin. 

The next condition of effectual prayer is obedi- 
ence to the plain commandments of God as laid 
down in the Bible; not obedience to our opinions 
about scripture; not obedience to our interpreta- 
tions of scripture; but obedience to the plain, 
simple, unmistakable word itself. Here is the 
trouble with a great many people; they get a 
notion in their head; they "get their head set" — 
if I may use that phrase — in a certain way, and 
they go to the Bible, not to get light or truth or to 
know God's will, but to bolster up their pet theory. 
It is in this way that they get into trouble. There 
must be obedience — not to that sort of thing — but 



74 



Bible Readings. 



obedience to the plain, literal, common -sense 
meaning of God's commands. When you read the 
Scripture don't read it as a riddle; read it as a 
plain, common-sense revelation, meaning what it 
says, and saying what it means ; and unless there 
is something in the context to show that it is to be 
taken figuratively, take it literally. The context 
will enable you to decide that question. 

Take this one case to illustrate: Jesus said, 
speaking of Herod, u Go ye, and tell that fox, 
Behold I cast out devils." Was Herod a fox or a 
man ? We know from the context that Herod was 
a man, and therefore that the word fox in this 
passage should be taken in a figurative sense. But 
if there was nothing in the context to show that a 
man was meant, I would take the word in its 
literal sense. 

Hear what the Book says to prove that obedience 
is the condition of effectual prayer — i John iii. 22 : 
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, be- 
cause we keep his commandments, and do those 
things that are pleasing in his sight" "What- 
soever we ask we receive of him." Did you notice 
the reason that is given? "Because we keep his 
commandments, and do those things that are 
pleasing in his sight." That is a wonderful 
scripture. And the converse of that proposition is 
true : A great many people ask God for a great 
many things which they never receive, because 
they do not keep his commandments. They fail 
to do what he tells them. That is the trouble. 
Thus the principle is clear from God's word that 



Effectual Prayer. 



75 



you can not live a listless, careless, disobedient, 
inconsistent, backslidden life, and then pray an 
effectual prayer. And that is just the reason why 
we have such lifeless, cold, prayerless church 
members; and such a cold, worldly-minded, 
worldly-conformed church. 

That poet was to an extent inspired who said : 

" Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 

The Christian's native air, 
His watchword at the gates of death ; 

He enters heaven with prayer." 

There is no such thing as growth in grace, there 
is no such thing as God hearing us, unless we live 
lives of obedience. What was the peculiarity 
about Christ? He was one who spent whole 
nights in prayer, and it was when Christ was pray- 
ing that he was baptized of the Holy Ghost, and it 
was when he was praying that he was transfigured. 
If we are going to get up on the mount of trans- 
figuration and be baptized by the Holy Ghost, we 
have to spend a great deal of time in prayer. 

But it is no use to spend time in prayer unless 
you are conforming your life to the requirements 
of God's holy Book. What does God say? He 
says to the Christian, u Come out and be ye 
separate." That is, separate from worldly minded- 
ness and worldly conformity. Here is a church 
member that willfully, knowingly, deliberately 
violates that scripture, and conforms to the world. 
Now, do you think he can pray a very effectual 
prayer? Nay, verily. 

Let me be a little specific here. You mothers 



7 6 



Bible Readings. 



have some little children, and we will take the 
fathers along with you in this. What does God 
say to you as parents? He says, Train up your 
children in the way in which they should go. 
If you do this he promises that when they are old 
they will not depart from it. He also says to you 
to bring up your children in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. Now, that is God's com- 
mand. What are most of you parents inclined to 
do ? In the first place, you never read God's word 
to them, you never pray with your children, or for 
them, or before them. You let them do as they 
please on Sunday. You exercise no parental dis- 
cipline over them. We are living in an age of 
obedient parents and disobedient children; and 
there is not a darker cloud that hangs over this 
land to-day than that. Why is it that your boy is 
in jail before he is eighteen ? He has never been 
controlled at home, and he is not going to be con- 
trolled by the officers of the law; and the first thing 
that any body knows the sheriff has his hands on 
him. I believe in bringing your children up in 
love and kindness, and if that fails, use a switch. 
I agree with the Presbyterian divine who said that 
the Shorter Catechism and the switch were good 
things to bring children up on. 

Instead of teaching your children God's word, 
you are letting them read novels and other useless 
and hurtful things. Or perhaps you have false 
notions of society and take your pure, sweet, 
innocent little girls and put them under the care 
of a vile, lecherous, French dancing master, to be 



Effectual Prayer. 



77 



taught to dance. After a while you fathers and 
mothers see your children going off into sin and 
infidelity and all kinds of wickedness. Perhaps 
you see them wrecked — dying without God and 
without hope in the world. And you come here 
and get down on your knees and pray, 44 O God, 
help me to bring up my children in the way they 
should be brought up; help me to do my duty; 
help me to be a faithful, earnest, Christian parent. 
Keep my children, and bless and save. them. " Do 
you expect God to hear that prayer? God will be 
no party to a farce like that. He says, 4 4 He that 
turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even 
his prayer shall be abomination unto God ? ' ' The 
idea is this : If a man or woman says, 4 4 I am a 
Christian, " and then will not obey God's com- 
mand, nor heed the words which God speaks, but 
comes and prays for God's blessing, the prayer 
of that disobedient soul is an abomination. If you 
want God to help you to bring up your children 
right, do your duty and obey God. If you want 
God to hear your prayers, obey God. 

I imagine I hear somebody say, 4 4 You are get- 
ting some of us in a bad fix this morning." No; 
you got yourself there, and I am simply showing 
you the fact. 4 4 If that is the case how are we ever 
going to get God to hear us?" Hear what God 
says, 44 Return ye backsliding children." He also 
says, 4 4 If we confess our sins he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins. ' ' Now, the thing for you 
to do is to confess the way that you have been 
living, confess your sins to God, confess your 



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Bible Readings. 



disobedience. Ask God to forgive you, and upon 
your confession he has promised to do it. And 
when you are set right stay right, and ask God to 
bless you and keep you right, and he will do it. 
My friends, we can not live as we list and then 
pray an effectual prayer. 

You can not cheat men during the week, and 
then come and get down here Sunday and pray 
effectually to God to help you lay up treasures in 
heaven. He is not going to hear you about laying 
up treasures in heaven as long as you are so greedy 
about your treasures on earth. We must live 
honestly; as God says, u Provide things honest in 
the sight of all men." You must keep his holy 
and blessed commandments. 

The next condition of effectual prayer is submis- 
sion to the will of Almighty God. i John v. 14 : 
4 4 And this is the confidence that we have in him, 
that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he 
heareth us. n That is, if our will is according 
to God's will, if we are submissive to his will. 
If he wills for us to have it, all right. If he wills 
for us not to have it, all right. Now, it takes 
grace to get into this state of submission. It took 
Paul a great while to reach this state. He had a 
thorn in the flesh; he prayed God three times to 
have that thorn taken away. It was a long time 
before he could submit. God says, " My grace is 
sufficient for you." It is better to have the thorn 
and the grace than to have neither the thorn nor 
the grace. 

It is just so with us when we come to submit a 



Effectual Prayer. 



79 



matter to God. We do not know any better than 
the children what is best for us. Here is a mother 
sitting down sewing, and here is a little one play- 
ing on the floor, and there is a work-basket with a 
good many things in it, among others a pair 
of scissors. The little fellow finds his way to the 
work-basket, and the first thing that he gets hold 
of is the scissors. Every time he gets them he 
hurts himself with them. But he wants the scis- 
sors, and if his mother takes them away from him 
he rebels with angry screams. His will is not 
subordinate to the mother's, but the mother ought 
to do what is her will and not the child's will. 
We all are simply grown up children, though some 
of us are sixty or seventy years old. We often 
grasp at something we have no use for; something 
that would hurt us. We ask God for it; but our 
Father knows best, and very often he will not give 
us the things we ask. We are not submissive to 
his holy and righteous will. One of the things 
that I thank God for to-day is that he did not grant 
me a great many things I asked for. I can look 
back now and see that it would have been the 
worst thing in the world for me if he had answered 
some of my prayers as I wanted him to answer 
them. Our Father is infinite in wisdom, in love, 
in goodness. Let us submit the whole matter to 
him, and abide by his will. When we do that God 
will hear us. 

A great many of us are like the dear old woman 
down in Mississippi during the war. She was 
praying about the war: "O God, let this terrible 



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Bible Readings. 



war come to a close. Lord, let it end any way you 
want it to; but, O Lord, let those Yankees get 
whipped." That is about the character of many 
of our prayers. We first make up our mind as to 
the way we want things to go. We then go and 
pray the Lord that his will may be done; but in 
our secret hearts we still want it our way. Thus a 
great many people first make up their minds whom 
they are going to marry, and then they pray a good 
deal about it. First go and pray before you make 
up your mind, and then, after God has guided you 
in the matter, there will not be so much trouble 
about divorces. 

Hear how the Master prays : c c Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me" — then follows 
that wonderful, 1 4 nevertheless n — " nevertheless 
not my will but thine be done." It takes grace to 
get up there beside Jesus and be submissive to the 
will of our heavenly Father. But we can reach 
this fellowship in Christ's self-denying submissive- 
ness; it is our privilege to reach it. Then God 
will bless us, and we will pray effectively. 

I remember an incident that occurred in Missis- 
sippi when I was a boy. There was a mother 
whose little son was quite sick. It looked as if he 
were going to die. The physicians and every body 
gave him up, but that mother knelt by her boy. 
She would pray and wring her hands, and she 
would rebel against God. She was not submissive 
to God's will. God granted her request, as he did 
the request of the Jews when they prayed for flesh 
in the wilderness but sent leanness into their soul. 



Effectual Prayer. 



81 



That boy has grown up into a man, and he is a 
living, veritable vagabond to-day; a disgrace to 
hnmanity, and to the mother that bore him. I 
hold that it would have been a great deal better to 
have resigned that child submissively into the 
hands of God and said, ' ' O Father, thy will be 
done and not mine, ' ' letting that little one go to 
heaven and escape the terrible gauntlet of sin he 
has to run now. 

Friends, if God takes your little one submit to 
it. I would a great deal rather have a child free 
from sin, beyond temptation and beyond the snares 
and pitfalls between the cradle and the grave. I 
would rather, if it is God's will, have him up yon- 
der with Jesus, pure and spotless and immaculate, 
washed in the blood of Jesus, and standing close to 
the throne of Christ, waiting and watching for me, 
than to have him down in this world of sin. L,et 
us in this matter and in all matters, submit to God, 
accepting as best whatever he does. 

Another condition of effectual prayer is that the 
motive prompting the petition shall be a right 
motive in the sight of God. James iv. 3: u Ye ask, 
and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may 
consume it upon your lusts. v u Ye ask" — all 
right — " and receive not " — why ? Because ye ask 
amiss. Wherein do we ask amiss ? 1 ' That ye may 
consume it upon your lusts." The word "lust" 
there is not used in the lascivious sense, but it is used 
in the selfish sense. That is, you are praying now 
for spiritual blessings on your heart and soul. 
That is all right, but why do you want those spirit- 
6 



82 



Bible Readings. 



ual blessings? Do you want them in order that 
you may be more efficient, that you may be more 
useful, that you may win souls to Jesus, that you 
may feed some saint, that you may lift up some 
fallen one, that you may glorify your Master ? Or 
do you want that blessing on your heart just that 
you may have it, and enjoy it, and drink it in, and 
feast upon it; that you may have a good time, and 
be glad and so happy, all in and of and by your- 
self? Which is it? Is it the latter? Then your 
motive is a selfish one. You need not be asking 
for any more of these things, if that is the mo- 
tive. 

Now, we are getting to a very practical point. 
You have been a member of the church for years. 
All that time you have had the love of God, the 
bread of life, the water of life, the wine of the 
gospel, and the consolations of God's promises. 
What have you done with them ? Have you ever 
given a crumb to a poor fellow-mortal ? Have you 
ever said a word to any one ? Have you ever im- 
parted one particle of that spiritual life and light 
and blessing that Christ gave you, to any body else? 
You say, " I don't know that I ever have." No, 
I guess you never have. Now, what do you want 
with any more grace or blessing ? What would you 
do with it ? Just what you have been doing ? Do 
you not know that when the Israelites hoarded the 
manna that it bred pestilence? You forfeit God's 
grace if you hoard it in your heart. Such hoard- 
ing, to say the least, keeps you from getting any 
more. 



Effectual Prayer. 



83 



You know on a certain occasion Christ fed five 
thousand men, besides the women and children, 
with a few loaves and fishes. Here are the disciples 
Peter, James, and John, and others. He took a 
little fish and broke it in two, and a small piece of 
bread. He gave a part of the fish and a piece of 
the bread to Peter, and then to John, to Mark and 
Matthew, and the rest. Suppose Peter had taken 
his little piece of fish and bread and eaten it on the 
spot; do you suppose the Savior would have given 
him any more? No, But what did Peter do? 
He broke it, and gave a piece to the man next to 
him. Then the Master gave him another piece, 
and he gave that to others, and then received still 
more. Thus these five thousand men were fed from 
that which the disciples received from Jesus. Jesus 
gave to them, and as long as they would give to 
others he would continue to give to them. 

Now, then, friends, some of you have taken this 
bread of life that Jesus gave you, and have never 
given your child a crumb. You have never 
given your neighbor a crumb. There isn't a sin- 
ner on God's green earth to-day that you have 
shared a crumb with. What do you want with 
more ? Do you want it for your own selfish enjoy- 
ment? God will not accommodate any such a 
sinner; because grace strikes at the very root of 
selfishness at the start. 

Why do I want you to work ? Why do I want 
you to stay here to-night in the inquiry meeting 
and point these souls to Christ? For God's glory, 
for the good of souls, and also for your own good. 



84 



Bibi^e Readings. 



Such little crumbs as you have received you have 
been keeping to yourself. You go home and roll 
yourself into bed and go to sleep. And your 
thought seems to be, "If I am all right, it makes 
no difference who goes to ruin and death just so I 
escape." You starve your own soul and check 
your own spiritual life. If you want to get strong 
go to work ; if you want to get more grace use the 
grace you have. If you want more light let that 
which God has given you shine. 

This is an age of dyspepsia. We don't do 
enough manual labor. We eat and sit, and sit and 
eat We take little physical exercise; we become 
dyspeptics. What is a good remedy? Bodily 
activity, out-door exercise. See that woodman 
swinging his ax. He can eat bacon and cabbage 
for dinner and digest it, but these people that lead 
sedentary lives can hardly eat any thing; they are 
dyspeptics. Just so the church is full of spiritual 
dyspeptics. They have done nothing since they 
were converted; they are babies, and must be fed 
from the ecclesiastical bottle. You can not give 
them strong meat; that would make them sick. 
You must give them milk. Now, what is the 
result ? These pastors must put their wits to work, 
and it takes them a week of the hardest kind of 
labor to get up a dish of theological jelly, or sylla- 
bub, or whipped cream, or whatever you may name 
it, that is delicate enough for your poor dyspeptic 
infant digestion. Why? Because you have done 
nothing. It is not your pastor's fault; he must 
prepare food to suit the digestive organs of his 



Effectual Prayer. 



85 



congregation. Go to work; exercise your strength 
in bringing souls to Christ, and you will grow 
stronger, you will get over your dyspepsia. You 
will soon be able to digest strong meat. God will 
help you and bless you. 

Make up your mind on one or two things. You 
are going to continue to be a poor spiritual dwarf, 
a dwindling, spindling, spiritual dyspeptic, doing 
nothing but eat and sit and sit and eat, till God 
takes you to heaven ; or else you must decide, 4 1 By 
God's help I will use the grace he has given me, 
and in the use of it I will ask for more and get 
more. ' y May God help you. Stay here and help 
us to-night to win souls to Christ. 

Another condition of effectual prayer is that the 
prayer shall be made in the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. John xiv. 13: "And whatsoever ye shall 
ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father 
may be glorified in the Son." Why are you to ask 
it in the name of Jesus ? Because Jesus is the Son 
of God; Jesus died for my sin; I have no worth or 
merit of my own; it is all in Christ. You need 
not pray at all, if you do not pray in the name of 
Jesus. I will illustrate. You go down to the 
bank with a check. You must pass the check in, 
and it must not only have a name on it, but the 
name that is satisfactory to that cashier and presi- 
dent. Without this you can not get the money. 
Your prayer is a check on heaven's bank. It must go 
with a name on it, and with the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. If that name is wanting, it need 
not go at all. You must pray in the name of Jesus. 



86 



Bible Readings. 



The next condition is faith. James i. 6: u But 
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he 
that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with 
the wind and tossed. " You are to ask in faith. Of 
course, you all know that. But one of the com- 
monest things in this world is to pray, and then 
never stop to think one moment whether God has 
heard you or not. Too many pray, and then never 
plead the promise, never stop to ask whether God 
is to fulfill the promise or not. A man has a 
check on the bank, and he goes in and lays the 
check on the counter, and the cashier lays the 
money down, but the man puts both hands in his 
pockets and walks out of the building. He did not 
get any money. Why? Simply because he did 
not appropriate what belonged to him. There is a 
great deal of that kind of praying. You pray to 
God to give you a promise, and then you do not 
appropriate that which he has promised. 

Finally, we must pray in the spirit. Jude xx.: 
"But ye> beloved, building up yourselves on 
your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
Ghost." That is the last condition of effectual 
prayer. 

My friends, just see how all these conditions fit 
together. If we are abiding in Christ, and God's 
word is abiding in us; if we obey God's word and 
are submissive to his will; if our motive is God's 
glory and the good of our fellow-man; if we have 
our faith in God, believing that he will do what he 
promises and appropriating his promises; and if we 
are led and guided by the Holy Ghost, we will pray 



Effectual Prayer. 



87 



effectually. The Holy Ghost knows what we need. 
He knows what is the will of the Father and the 
Son. He will indite our prayer just in accordance 
with this divine will. We pray, and the prayer 
is indited by the Holy Ghost; therefore, the Father 
will hear, and for the sake of the Son he will grant 
our petition, and our souls will get a gracious 
blessing. 

May God help us always to pray in the Holy 
Ghost! 



i 
1 



PURE RELIGION. 



JAMES i. 27: "Pure religion and undefiled 
before God and the Father is this, To visit the 
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to 
keep himself unspotted from the world. ' ' 

I want to call your attention to the two words, 
4 4 pure religion." That is the topic of our Bible 
reading this morning. The word 44 religion" 
comes from two Latin words, which literally mean 
4 4 bound back," or 44 re-bound,'' or 44 bound again." 
Now, I will explain, and you will see the force of 
that word. God created man pure, holy, free 
from sin, upright, in a state of sweet communion 
and fellowship with himself. Sin tore him loose 
from God destroying this communion and fellow- 
ship, severing his union with his Maker, separating 
his soul from the source of spiritual life. Now, 
the object of pure religion is to take this fallen, 
sinful soul, and bind it back to God, reunite it to 
God. That is the idea of religion. It is to bind, 
or rather to re-bind, the fallen, lost soul back to 
God, its Maker, Creator, and Redeemer. 

Therefore, you see that the object which our 
souls are bound to will determine the character 
of our religion. If our hearts and our affections 
are bound to idols, then our religion will be idol- 
atrous; if our souls are bound to mere form and 
(88) 



Pure Religion. 



8 9 



ceremony, our religion will be external, formal, 
ceremonious. If we are bound to mere ethics and 
morality, our religion will be merely ethical and 
moral; but if we are bound to the true and living 
God, it will be a pure religion. Hence, you see 
why there are so many kinds of religion. You 
also see that there is but one religion that is worth 
any thing. 

Now, a man's soul and his religion and his affec- 
tions may be very properly compared to a vine and 
its branches and tendrils. A vine can not rise 
above that stake on which its tendrils have taken 
hold. If a vine is lying down on the ground it is 
helpless to lift itself up. The vine can rise just to 
the height of the object which the tendrils take 
hold of, and it can not rise any higher. Therefore, 
if the tendrils take hold of the chips and trash and 
bricks lying around on the ground, it can not rise 
above these, but these very things will hold it down 
there. If you will make a trellis, and get your vine 
up on the trellis, it can lift itself up by means of 
the trellis, the tendrils taking hold and climbing 
up, and thus lifting up the vine. The height of 
the vine depends upon the height of the thing 
upon which its tendrils have laid hold. 

Just so with the human soul and our religion. 
The quality of the religion is determined by that 
upon which our affections have taken hold; and 
the elevation of the soul depends upon the moral 
elevation of that upon which we have set our affec- 
tions. Hence, God says, " Set your affections not 
on things on earth, but on things above." If you 



9 o 



Bible Readings. 



want to rise to heaven your affections must be on 
heavenly things. If you want to rise to com- 
munion and fellowship with God, your affections 
must be on God. 

This helps us to understand what God did in the 
incarnation of his Son. You know Christ is called 
u a righteous Branch," u a Plant of renown." 
God has put that branch right here on the earth, 
and made it akin to our humanity. Our affections 
can go out to the God-man, Jesus Christ, and take 
hold of him, and be entwined around him. And 
since Christ is God, and as high as heaven, our 
souls can be lifted up as high as God, when they 
lay hold on Christ. Therefore, that man whose 
affections are not entwined around Jesus Christ, 
let his religion and his morals be what they may, 
will never arise to the height of divinity and 
purity in God's sight. Therefore, the religion of 
Jesus Christ is the highest, the purest, the best 
religion the world ever saw. 

You talk about saving yourself, elevating, and 
purifying yourself, without Christ. You might 
just as well talk about the vine that is lying yonder 
on the ground, with all its tendrils entwined around 
the things on the earth, rising up and elevating 
itself. It could not do it if it were unencumbered, 
but now its very attachment to the things on the 
ground keep it down. So your poor soul, weak, 
deceitful, sin-cursed, by itself can not arise. It not 
only has no power to do so, but it is so encumbered 
with these worldly things that unless it gets hold 
of God it will never be elevated. 



Pure Religion. 



9 1 



There is scarcely any other word in the Bible so 
egregiously abused and misapplied as this word 
religion. A great many people think if they sim- 
ply have religion they are safe. It is not so. 
Safety depends altogether upon what sort of religion 
you have. Some of the most religious men in 
the world are the most godless. Saul of Tarsus 
was a very religious man when he was standing 
there while they stoned Stephen; but he was a very 
ungodly man. That Mohammedan that stops at the 
hour of prayer, and kneels down and says his 
prayers, is a very religious man, but he is not a very 
godly man. He may live by robbery and violence, 
he may be ready to cut off your head, too, if you 
refuse to accept his religion. 

The word religion occurs but four times in God's 
word, and not twice in the same sense. In Acts 
xxvi. 5, Paul uses this word. He says, "After the 
most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Phar- 
isee." Here you have one kind of religion, the 
religion of the Pharisees. It was an outside, exter- 
nal religion, a religion made up entirely of forms, 
and ceremonies, of rites and hollow external pom- 
posity, without any true spiritual worship or gen- 
uine love and loyalty to God. Hence, Jesus Christ 
says, " Except your righteousness exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. " 

Is your religion a mere outward ceremony, a 
mere round of external forms, that affects only your 
deportment, that does not get down into your heart 
and soul ? If so, yours is the religion of the Phar- 



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Bible Readings. 



isee. It is not worth the time it takes for you to 
go through the farce of its performances. O my 
friends, we must have an inside religion, a religion 
that takes hold of our hearts and souls, and molds 
life and character and conduct. 

But again, in James i. 26, another kind of re- 
ligion is mentioned. It is a vain religion. "If 
any man among you seem to be religious, and 
bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own 
heart, this man's religion is vain." That means 
that if religion is not seated in the heart sufficiently 
to bridle the tongue, control the temper, and regu- 
late the life, then that man's religion is vain. How 
is it about your religion? Does it control your 
conduct, your tongue, your life? If it does not, 
it is vain. That is, it is hollow, empty, useless. 
It does not amount to any thing here; it will not 
amount to any thing hereafter. Dear friend, don't 
live under the delusion that a vain religion will 
keep you out of hell. It will not do it. If your 
religion is so empty and vain and hollow as not to 
make you a better man or woman here, it will not 
get you into the kingdom on high. 

Paul speaks of another kind of religion in Gal. 
i. 13, the religion of the Jews — that is, the degen- 
erated Judaism of that day. It is mentioned in 
contradistinction to pure, simple Christianity, and 
not only in contradistinction to it, but as in antag- 
onism with it. No religion was so antagonistic to the 
religion of Jesus Christ as degenerated Judaism in the 
days of the apostles. What was its peculiarity ? For 
one thing they made more of human traditions 



Pure Religion. 



93 



than they did of the written word of God. They 
trusted more in the Talmud than in the Sacred 
Oracles. The Talmud, as you know, was made up 
of the writings and wise sayings of learned Jews, 
the laws, traditions, opinions, theories, and interpre- 
tations of the uninspired members of the Sanhedrim. 
The Jews honored these traditions more than they 
did the word of God. 

Is that the sort of religion you have? Is some- 
body's opinion, or somebody's creed, or theory, or 
doctrine, worth more to you than God's word? 
Have you adopted some pet notion to which you 
hold on in spite of the word of God ? Then yours 
is a religion modeled after this type of Judaism in 
contradistinction to Bible religion. 

Then we read in the text, James i. 27, of "pure 
religion." Only this sort will make you a better 
man, elevate your character, and save your soul. 
Only this kind will re-bind you to God, taking your 
affections and entwining them around the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and lifting you up and up toward 
the Father, until you are transformed into his like- 
ness and image. 

There are many kinds of religion. Here is the 
Mohammedan faith ; some people think a great deal 
of that. And here is the religion of Buddha; some, 
even in America, are silly enough to think about 
that more than about the religion of Christ. And 
do you know what the highest hope of Buddha's 
religion is? It is simply annihilation. It is not 
Mohammedanism, nor Buddhism, nor Pharisaism, 
nor yet a vain profession, or empty formalism that 



94 



Bible Readings. 



we need; but let us never stop until we know for 
ourselves that we have pure religion. 

I have noticed this peculiarity of humanity in 
things not pertaining to religion: there are some 
people who have a great deal of affectation about 
them, and consequently they put on a great many 
airs. 

My observation has been that their affectation is 
a standing advertisement : ' 4 There is nothing 
inside of me, and consequently I must put on ap- 
pearances outside." That will hold good in every 
thing. I care not whether it is a mere matter of 
intelligence, information, dress, deportment, be- 
havior, work, it will hold good. You see a man 
who has any thing in him, any force of character, 
worth, common sense, or nobility, and he will not 
always be making parade about it. You never saw 
such a man as that affected — never. A vain, 
affected man is always an empty, a hollow, a little 
man. 

It is precisely that way in matters of religion. I 
have observed that those people and churches that 
have most of the true, genuine religion of Christ, 
go along in the plain, unassuming, old-fashioned, 
straight-forward, Bible way. But I have observed, 
and I know the same has ever been true in the his- 
tory of the world, that just as pure religion begins 
to decrease in the human heart, formalism, and 
legalism also, begin to increase in the life. 

Why, some people could not do this during cer- 
tain parts of the week, and they could not do that. 
They were very particular and squeamish and nice 



Pure Religion. 



95 



about little non-essentials and technicalities and 
forms and peccadillos. But when it came to the 
great, vital matter of loving and serving God and 
following Jesus Christ in pure fidelity and conse- 
cration, they did not know or care much about it. 
Mark it! the less there is in a man socially, intel- 
lectually, or religious!)', the more parade he will 
make about it. The same principle is suggested in 
the common old saying, "When you hear a man 
always boasting about his honesty, you had better 
watch him." Just so, pure religion " vaunteth not 
itself, " but like God's Son, is meek and modest 
and humble. 

Now, I am going this morning to give you seven 
verses of scripture, each one of which presents a 
distinct manifestation of pure religion. You can 
not see religion; you can judge it only by its 
manifestations and its fruits. What are the mani- 
festations of pure religion ? 

I answer from God's word, that the first one is 
having the spirit of Christ, Rom. viii. 9: u But 
ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be 
that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any 
man have not the spirit of Christ he is none 
of his." There is the first stone in this whole 
building, "If any man have not the spirit of 
Christ he is none of his." That is, we must have 
the Holy Spirit abiding in us as he did in Christ, 
producing fruit unto holiness. What are the strik- 
ing characteristics and manifestations of the spirit 
of Jesus? I will answer, in the first place, meek- 
ness and humility. He was meek, quiet, not self- 



9 6 



Bible Readings. 



seeking, not self-obstrusive. And joined to the 
meekness was humility, O the beautiful humility 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. O the depths of love, 
of faith, of power, of grace, of goodness and 
virtue there were in him! And with it all how 
meek, how humble was the Son of God! That is 
just what I said a while ago. The more there is in 
a man, the less of vain pomposity and show and 
bluster and brag there is in him always. 

Dear friends, have we that spirit to-day ? Have 
we that meek and humble spirit of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ? Is it deep down in our hearts and souls ? 
And are we willing to go quietly along and be 
faithful to God and do our duty and believe in the 
promised reward? Talk about men and all the 
traits that make them noble and blessed and god- 
like and Christ-like; but there is no trait more 
ennobling and heavenly than humility. We all 
admire, we all love — not pretended meekness, not 
mock humility — but humility and meekness in their 
divine genuineness and Christ-likeness. 

Another peculiar characteristic of the spirit of 
Jesus Christ was obedience unto his heavenly 
Father. He said, "I must work the works of him 
that sent me." He said, u My meat and my drink 
is" — what? To seek my pleasure, my pastime, 
my ease? No; "My meat and my drink is to do 
the will of my Father which is in heaven. " Hear 
what he says, " Wist ye not that I must be about 
my Father's business?" From the time Christ is 
twelve years old, when we see him there convers- 
ing with the doctors in the temple, until from that 



Pure Religion. 



97 



cross he ascended to the kingdom, there was one 
great, all-absorbing thing that controlled his 
thought and words and life. It was the spirit 
of obedience to the will of God. It did not matter 
whether it was agreeable or disagreeable, w 7 hether 
it brought persecution or fame, popularity or un- 
popularity, the one question with Jesus was obedi- 
ence to God. 

Friends, saints of God, professors of religion, 
have we that spirit? Is that the all-controlling, 
predominating, regulating, propelling principle in 
our lives ? Is our chief concern — not our ease, not 
comfort, nor pleasure, nor enjoyment, nor amuse- 
ment — but obedience to him who bought us with 
his blood ? obedience to him who said, ( c Deny 
yourself, take up your cross and follow me?" 
If so, that is pure religion. 

Another remarkable thing about the spirit of 
Christ was, absolute submission to his heavenly 
Father. It mattered not what happened; if he 
was to be betrayed by friends, he would submit; 
if he was sold by a disciple for thirty pieces 
of silver, he submitted; if he was to be arrested by 
a band of ruffians at the dead of night, he was 
unresisting, notwithstanding he said to Peter, 
4 4 Thinkest thou that I can not now pray to my 
Father, and he shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of angels ? " He submits because it 
is God's will. Is he scourged? He submits to 
that and after a while he submits to be nailed to 
that cruel tree. Now t , what is the secret of it 
all? Hear what he says, "The cup that my 
7 



9 8 



Bible Readings. 



Father gave me, shall I not drink it?" "My 
Father gave the cup and I will drink any cup my 
Father gives." O saints of God, have you that 
spirit? In your misfortunes, persecutions, afflic- 
tions, trials, poverty; in every thing else that 
comes upon you do you bow submissively, remem- 
bering that God says, "All things work together 
for good to them that love him. ' ' 

Not only that, but Jesus Christ had the spirit 
of true, undaunted, unfaltering, uncompromising, 
moral courage. When all men forsook him he had 
the courage to stand by the right and to stand 
alone. Not a disciple, except John — and Peter off 
there at a distance — stood with him at that mock 
trial. He had the courage to stand alone; he had 
the courage to pull the mask off of those hypocrit- 
ical Pharisees; to expose the hollow farces of the 
day in which he lived; to run counter to the 
prejudices and whims of a godless multitude by 
whom he was surrounded. And finally, he stood 
before the high-priest and was adjured by him to 
say whether or not he was the Christ. His life 
depended on the answer; for the high-priest was 
placing him exactly in this position: "If he 
denies it then away goes his claim that he is the 
Son of God; if he affirms it, then we will put him 
to death for doing so." And he had courage to 
face death single-handed and alone, to stand on 
principle, to answer fearlessly at the sacrifice 
of his heart's blood. That is the spirit of Jesus. 
Have we the courage to follow Jesus in the midst 
of a crooked and perverse generation? to stand 



Pure: Religion. 



99 



undaunted on God's truth, popular or unpopular, 
fashionable or unfashionable? Can you follow the 
footprints of Jesus ? That is pure religion. 

The next manifestation of pure religion is 
having the mind of Christ. Phil. ii. 5 : u Let this 
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." 
Now, that is a truth akin to the other, but never- 
theless distinct from the other. This has reference 
especially to the mental characteristics of the Son 
of God. What about the mind that was in Christ? 
It was a pure mind, in that it would not entertain 
impure thoughts; it would not dwell upon impure 
objects; it would not feed upon impure things. 
Do you think Christ ever read an impure book, or 
dwelt upon an impure thought ? 

Our character and our conduct are very largely 
molded and determined by the objects upon 
which our minds dwell. A girl or a boy that 
begins to read worthless, sensational, impure 
fiction would, at the age of fifteen, as soon be in 
jail as to read a good book, or God's word. The 
mind has been corrupted and made impure, and 
that molds the character, gives shape to the soul, 
determines the life. Just so of other evil or debas- 
ing things. Now, u let this mind be in you which 
was also in Christ Jesus." Be pure-minded. 
Avoid impure thoughts and impure things. L,et 
not your mind be occupied in reading impure 
literature, I care not what it is, whether in a news- 
paper or a book. 

Again, Jesus Christ's mind was pure because 
there was in it no hatred, envy, malice, strife — no 



IOO 



Bible Readings. 



unlovely mental exercise. But some Christian 
says, "These things pop into my head before I 
know it, and how can I help it ? n Perhaps you 
can not help their popping in sometimes; but I will 
tell you what you can help; you can prevent their 
staying in. You can not prevent the birds from 
flying over your head, but you can prevent their 
building a nest in your hair. Just so with impure 
thoughts. You can keep them from staying with 
you. Pray for deliverance from them just as you 
pray against other evils. 

Another thing about Christ: he was heave7ily~ 
minded, in contradistinction to being worldly- 
minded. I have no patience with fanatics. Christ 
was heavenly-minded, but he could work at the 
carpenter's bench; he could attend to his earthly 
duties, and still keep faithful to his duties to his 
Father. We are not to be so heavenly-minded 
that we will neglect our wives or our husbands, 
our children or our parents. We are not to be so 
holy that we can not make an honest living, or 
attend to our domestic duties. But we are to be so 
heavenly-minded that we will not let these legiti- 
mate and proper things absorb all our time and 
attention. We are to seek first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness; to attend first to those 
high and most important duties, and then attend 
to these others. A heavenly-minded man is a man 
that is not slothful in business, but fervent in 
spirit, serving the Lord. Let this mind then be in 
you which was also in Christ Jesus. 

Another manifestation of pure religion is brid- 



Pure Religion. 



ioi 



ling the tongue. James i. 26 : "If any man among 
you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his 
tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's 
religion is vain." " If any man" — now, the word 
"man " is used in its generic sense, and it includes 
women. If any man or woman among you seem 
to be religious, and bridleth not his or her tongue, 
that person's religion is a vain religion. The heart 
is the seat of religion: u out of the abundance 
of the heart the mouth speaketh." Now if you 
have not enough pure religion in your heart to 
regulate and control your tongue, then your relig- 
ion is a vain religion. To use a common phrase, 
it is "no account." If it can not control your 
tongue it can not control your character or your 
conduct; and if it can not control character 
or conduct, it is no religion at all. It is a mere 
farce. You long - tongued women — and men 
— tattling and gadding and gossiping around town, 
retailing every little vague rumor you hear, med- 
dling with things that do not concern you, if that 
is your habit, if that is the character that you have 
formed, go, I beg you, to your" closet and get 
religion before you come back to-night. You 
haven't any now. If you profess to have it is an 
old, vain, empty farce. It is worth nothing at all. 

Men have their faults, and women have theirs. 
Some sins are peculiar to men, and some to women. 
I have seen some long-tongued, gossiping men; 
but as a rule this sin belongs to women. Sisters, 
let me talk to you just a little. Some other time I 
will give these' men some very plain talk about 



IQ2 



Bible Readings. 



their sins. But let me now say this to you: one 
tattling woman can do more devilment than all the 
preachers in town can counteract. Half of the 
neighborhood broils, and the church quarrels, and 
the disturbances in communities, come from some 
gossiping woman. Here is the way to deal with 
such persons: If a tattling woman — or man for 
that matter — comes to you, say "I do n't want to 
hear it. If it is the truth it isn't necessary to 
retail it around; and if it is not the truth, it is very 
wicked and abominable to tell it; and I don't want 
to listen to such things. ' ' 

You know it is said of Alexander the Great that 
when any body came to him with an ill-natured 
story he always put his hand over one ear, saying, 
"I am saving this ear for the other side." But 
how about us? We listen with both ears; we 
drink the story right in, and then go and tell it to 
somebody else. If there is a character on earth 
that is utterly detestable it is a tattler, man or 
woman. Do not be a retailer of scandal — an idle 
mischief-maker. It is doing Satan's work. If 
you do this God says your religion is vain. Do 
you think I am harsh and hard in the words I use 
in condemning this evil ? My words are not a bit 
harder than those used by James. Let me read 
you the first ten verses of the third chapter of 
James. 

"My brethren, be not many masters, knowing 
that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 
For in many things we offend all. If any man 
offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and 



Pure Religion. 103 

able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we 
put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey 
us ; and we turn about their whole body. Behold 
also the ships, which though they be so great, and 
are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about 
with a very small helm, whithersoever the gov- 
ernor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little mem- 
ber and boasteth great things. Behold how great 
a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a 
fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among 
our members, that it defileth the whole body, and 
setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on 
fire of hell." A long-tongued, tattling man or 
woman is devil-possessed. " For every kind of 
beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things 
in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of man- 
kind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an 
unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith 
bless we God, even the Father; and therewith 
curse we men, which are made after the similitude 
of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth bless- 
ing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought 
not so to be. ' ' The connection between the tongue 
and pure religion is vital. 

The next manifestation of pure religion is visit- 
ing the fatherless and widows. James i. 27: i { Pure 
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is 
this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
world. ' ' 

If Christ were in this town to-day in the flesh as 
he once was -in Bethany and Jerusalem; and if he 



io4 



Bible; Readings. 



were sick away out yonder in a little cabin on the 
outskirts of town, and it were reported : ' 1 The 
L,ord Jesus is out there sick; he has nothing to eat, 
and very little clothing; he is not comfortable," 
you would see the carriages and the buggies and 
the phaetons hurrying to the place to help him. 
You would go to see him and ask him to your 
house. You would carry him a great many things. 
Yes, I too would like to go. 

Do you know that here in this town are some 
of God's saints needing your help ? Perhaps there 
is a poor widow out yonder in that little pine-pole 
cabin. Perhaps she is out of wood or coal, out 
of money, with four or five little children, some 
of them sick, and nothing to eat and no fuel to keep 
them warm. Have you been to see her? Have 
you carried her any bread? Have you asked the 
doctor to go to her assistance ? Have you told the 
druggist to send medicine and that you will pay 
for it? Hear what Jesus Christ says, " I was sick 
and ye visited me. And they said, When saw we 
thee sick and came unto thee? And the King 
shall answer, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
it unto me. ' ' 

Here is the principle laid down, that Jesus 
Christ takes what is done unto the least of his 
children as done unto himself. That is pure relig- 
ion, to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and help them and do them good. You 
are very anxious to go around and call on some 
celebrated character, or some wealthy man that 



Pure Religion. 



105 



settles in your town. When President Cleveland 
and his wife made the tour of the South, at a 
certain town I remember that the police could 
hardly keep the women off the train, so eager were 
they to see Mrs. Cleveland, who was sick. But 
if that had been a poor, sick woman on the out- 
skirts of the town it would have required the po- 
lice to drag them thither. That is the difference. 
Dear friends, let us seek out God's poor, and take 
care of them. 

Another manifestation of pure religion is to keep 
ourselves unspotted from the world. James i. 27 : 
1 c Pure religion and undefiled before God and the 
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows 
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted 
from the world." Christians, it takes very little to 
spot a character; it takes very little to soil the good 
name of a saint. Suppose this afternoon I should 
go with three of these honored pastors to a whisky 
saloon. Suppose we all should drink whisky, and 
then take a game of cards. What would happen ? 
I will tell you. Our characters would be spotted. 
The story would be in every paper in this South- 
land to-morrow, and in the Northland too, for that 
matter. We would be spotted. We would deserve 
to be. 

But I challenge you to show me in God's word 
any restrictions upon conduct that apply to God's 
ministers that do not apply to all of God's people. 
You have no more right to get drunk than 
preachers have; you have no more right to play 
cards and dance and go to theaters than preachers 



io6 



Bible Readings. 



have. We all are commanded to keep ourselves 
unspotted from the world — not simply not to mix 
with the world, but to keep unspotted from it. 

You hear somebody asking, What is the harm of 
dancing ? What is the harm in a game of whist or 
euchre ? What is the harm in going to a hop or 
the theater ? That is not the question. The ques- 
tion is, Can we do these things and keep unspotted 
from the world ? You might discuss the question 
of right and wrong, but we are not now considering 
that. It is not so much a question of harm as 
of being unspotted from the world and keeping 
unspotted. 

Suppose there is going to be a marriage in town 
to-night. The ceremony will take place at eight 
o'clock. Here is the bride; she is clad in her spot- 
less robes with long white train, and adorned with 
her white bridal veil; her raiment is spotless 
and white. About 7.30 they say to her, u The 
bridegroom is here," and she says, u As I am not 
going to be married until eight, I believe I will 
take a sweep around to the kitchen. ' ' So she goes 
down through the kitchen, brushing her snowy gar- 
ments against the old smutty stove, coming in con- 
tact with other objects that leave their mark, soiling 
her gloved hands by taking the old, sooty poker and 
stirring the coals. Then she sweeps around in the 
corner among the cobwebs. All right. What is 
the harm, I would like to know, in walking in the 
kitchen, or stirring the fire, or sweeping down the 
cobwebs ? Then she marches back to the sitting- 
room, where the bridegroom is waiting. What do 



Pure Religion. 



107 



you suppose he would say to her ? Would he not 
say, 4 4 1 am not ready to become the husband of a 
woman who is so foolish as that, so lacking in the 
sense of the propriety of occasions? " Would you 
blame him ? I would not. What was the harm ? 
It is not so much a question of harm. It is a ques- 
tion of the violation of common propriety, and a 
failure to realize the significance of the occasion. 

Now, here is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bride- 
groom, and the church is called the bride, the 
Lamb's wife. Her robes are spotless, white, pure, 
and clean, the righteousness of the saints. The 
bride is waiting for the Bridegroom, and before the 
bridal supper she says, ' c I will take a peep around 
through the devil's kitchen." So you hop and you 
dance and you drink; you play cards and you dese- 
crate the Sabbath. You get spotted, and miserably 
besmirched. And then you ask, u What is the 
harm in all this ? ' ' Here is the question : When 
you go before Jesus Christ in that soiled, spotted 
garb, will he not reject you? He will have no 
such bride. Nothing that is impure or unclean or 
defiled can enter that city. It is one thing to con- 
form to the world; it is another thing to be pure 
and unspotted before God and the Father. 

Another mark of pure religion is diligently to 
follow every good work, 1 Tim. v. 10: "Well 
reported of for good works; if she have brought 
up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she 
have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved 
the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every 
good work." Mark it! that is applicable not only 



io8 



Bible Readings. 



to Christians in general, but the women in particu- 
lar. That is a manifestation of pure religion — if 
she has diligently followed every good work. 

Dear Christian women, do not spend your time 
in seeking the right to vote, or hold office, or run 
the government. That is coming down from your 
high position, and a letting down of your Christian 
character and dignity. This is what women, as 
well as men, ought to do : u Diligently follow 
every good work. ' ' 

The last manifestation of pure religion is build- 
ing up yourselves 011 your most holy faith. Jude 
xx. 21: " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves 
on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking 
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal 
life." u Building up yourselves," not on society, 
not on cards and amusements, not on pleasure. 
We are to build up character, our spiritual faith, 
our spiritual power, our spiritual superstructure, 
our spiritual manhood. On what are we to build up 
ourselves ? On our most holy faith. Jesus Christ 
is the author and finisher of our faith, and this 
brings us back to the figure of the vine climbing 
upward. The soul is the vine; its affections have 
taken hold on Christ. What is our business ? To 
keep entwining our affections around him; building 
ourselves up, lifting ourselves, climbing up, rising 
higher and higher, into sweet communion and fel- 
lowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Christian, have you grown any? Have you 
made any progress toward maturity since you were 



Pure Religion. 



109 



converted ? I once heard a quaint old Methodist 
preacher say, U A great many church members are 
like young wasps; they are bigger when they are 
born than ever afterward. 1 1 That is not the Bible 
idea. You are not always to be a baby and have to 
live on milk; you are to build yourself up. Grow 
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
Savior Jesus Christ. Get newer hold, fresher and 
stronger hold, and higher hold on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. After a while you will attain to the stature 
of a man, of a woman, in Christ. 

May God bless us, and keep us, and give us that 
religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of 
God ; and may we spend a blissful eternity with the 
Lord Jesus in God's holy, sinless heaven. 



A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. 



UR topic to-day is, A Mother's Influence, and 



the text is Prov. xxxi. i: "The words of 



King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother 
taught him." Here was a woman fit to be the 
mother of a king, for she was a faithful teacher of 
her son in her home. 

Marriage was instituted by the Lord ; hence, the 
divine command, u What God hath joined together 
let not man put asunder." Out of this institution 
of marriage springs the family — fatherhood, moth- 
erhood, childhood, the home; and upon the family 
is based the well-being of society, of nationalities, 
of church and state. They all stand or fall with 
the family, and the family stands or falls with mar- 
riage. Hence, among the predictions of sad and 
distressing things which shall come to pass in the 
u latter times," we find it foretold that there shall 
be those who give heed "to seducing spirits and 
doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry y One 
of the darkest clouds that hangs over our great 
nation to-day is the growing laxity of the marriage 
tie, the growing facility with which divorces can 
be obtained. Thus the family, society, civil and 
religious liberty are in danger of being undermined. 
I stand in doubt of any man or woman who has 




(no) 



A Mother's Influence. 



hi 



not a high regard for marriage, and also for mother- 
hood. 

I want to talk to you this morning about 
mothers, and the mother's influence. There are 
few things in this world or in heaven above that 
God has more honored than motherhood. When 
he sent his Son to save the world he might perhaps 
have sent him in many other ways ; but the fact is 
that he did send him u made of a woman, made 
under the law, that he might redeem them that 
were under the law.' ' God bestowed upon a woman 
the honor of being the mother of his Son. When 
I think of God setting this seal of exalted honor 
upon motherhood I can scarcely tolerate the idea 
entertained by some people that the mother's lot is 
one of degrading drudgery rather than the place 
and path of distinguished usefulness and glory. 

Now, let us go to God's word and see from that 
what are some of the obligations, responsibilities, 
honors, and privileges that God has conferred on 
motherhood. I am going to introduce seven 
mothers, all of whom exercised a very potent influ- 
ence over their children, some for good and some 
for evil. 

By reading these passages we will see how these 
mothers influenced their children. In the first 
place, Rebecca influenced her child by her example. 
Gen. xxvii. 15-17: "And Rebecca took goodly 
raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with 
her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her 
younger son; and she put the skins of the kids of 
the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth 



112 



Bible Readings. 



of his neck ; and she gave the savory meat and the 
bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of 
her son Jacob. ' ' Isaac was going to bless Esau, 
and Rebecca wanted Jacob to get the blessing. In 
order to secure it she must anticipate God and 
deceive her husband. Instead of trusting God to 
bring the blessing upon Jacob's head, she resorted 
to deception and falsehood, and this example her 
son Jacob was ready to follow. While Esau, the 
hairy man, was gone out to seek venison, Rebecca 
killed a kid and put the hairy skin on Jacob's 
hands and around his neck, and he took the 
savory meat and went to his father and said, 4 4 1 am 
Esau, thy first-born," and with this lie he stole his 
brother's blessing. Here was a mother's pernicious 
example, an example of trickery and fraud. It 
influenced her child ever afterward. Jacob seems 
never to have fully recovered from it. And the sad 
part of it was, she not only influenced Jacob, but 
she brought about a deadly feud between him and 
Esau. Jacob had to flee for his life, and Rebecca 
never saw him afterward. To her dying day the 
shadow of that pernicious example was on her and 
on her child. 

You see how serious a thing your example before 
your children is. By your conduct and words you 
are giving shape to material that is to outlast Cleo- 
patra's Needle or the Pyramids, to endure when the 
sun shall be darkened and the stars have fallen. 
To you, mothers, more than to any one else, this 
trust is committed. You touch and influence these 
souls during the very time of their greatest suscep- 



A Mother's Influence. 113 

tibility. No time in the life of a human being 
is of such importance as the first ten years. 
What your child is at ten years old, so far as bias 
of character is concerned, so far as the moral or 
immoral tendencies of the soul are concerned, he 
will be, more or less, through life. Now, up to 
that period, the child is peculiarly and especially 
under the influence of the mother. The father is 
gone about his business; the little one is playing 
around its mother's knee, the developing soul is 
under her care and guardianship, unconsciously 
her example, whether it is good, bad, or indifferent, 
is repeated and repeated until it is engraved into 
the very conscience and heart and soul of her 
child; until it becomes part of the child's moral 
fiber, the ground-work of its moral character. 

Dear mother, what a privilege and what an honor 
it is to take these little ones and mold them for 
God and for heaven! Nothing so affects your 
child as your example. We do not always realize 
what close observers these little children are. They 
watch you from the time they begin to observe at 
all, and your example is the thing that they are 
going to follow. 

Are you high-tempered, fractious, rough, severe, 
abusing the servants, storming at the children, and 
scolding right and left ? Your children will do the 
same thing. A woman in a certain town had a 
reputation for storming at the servants and children 
and every body about the house; and her children 
had a reputation for storming at one another, at the 
servants, and at their school-mates. Certainly: 
8 



H4 



Bible Readings. 



what the mother does, the children are going to do 
also. 

In a town in North Carolina there lived a good 
Quaker woman, earnest and godly. She had a 
dear little girl, about eight or nine years old. The 
mother told me this story : ' ' One day I came back 
from church, and my little daughter said to me, 
4 Mother, I don't see that going to the meeting 
does thee any good. Thee is just as uppish when 
thee comes back as before thee goes.' Ah, ' ' said the 
mother, 1 1 1 have n't been c uppish ' since. I realized 
that the child was watching me, and little had I 
dreamed till then of the influence that I was exert- 
ing on her.' ' Are you uppish ? Your children will be 
uppish. Do you practice fraud and deception in the 
social world ? They will do the very same thing. 

I knew of a case of this kind: A mother, we 
will call her Mrs. Jones, was sitting in the house 
one day and the door-bell rang. Her little chil- 
dren were around her, and one little girl was play- 
ing in the corner with her dolls. The servant 
announced, u Mrs. Brown has called to see you." 
"Mrs. Brown has called to see me? I'd like to 
know what she has come to see me for. I haven't 
time to leave my work just to talk to her." Still 
she gets up, gets things arranged, and goes into the 
parlor with a smile on her face. 11 Good-morning, 
Mrs. Brown, I am so glad to see you. It has been 
so long since you were here before. I hope you 
are quite well. And your husband is well ? I'm 
so glad you came." After Mrs. Brown is gone 
Mrs. Jones says: u Here I have lost all this time. 



A Mother's Influence. 



"5 



I don't like to be bothered in any such way." 
Now, her little daughter Mary had a playmate 
named Martha, and little Martha came one day to 
see Mary. The servant came in and said, ' ' Little 
Martha has come to see Mary." "I'd like to 
know," said Mary, with pouting lips, u what she 
has come to see me for. I don't want to be both- 
ered with her, losing all my time. I am just 
mending my doll-clothes, and making my little 
doll a dress." Then, just as little Martha came 
in, she said, "Why good-morning, Martha, I am 
so glad to see you. Come, let 's go and play with 
our dolls." Perhaps that is amusing in one sense, 
but, in another sense, it is solemn and sad. There 
is a mother's example of deception, a hollow social 
farce, engraved upon the memory, shaping the 
thoughts and blunting the conscience of that child. 
She is already acting out the very same thing she 
sees in her mother. 

Whatever you do your children are going to 
do. All who have observed men closely know that 
this is a fact. If you let me see the child and be 
with it a little while I will tell you what kind of a 
mother it has. Are you negligent, careless, and 
crabbed ? Are you given to gossip and deception ? 
Just such a child as that you will have. Dear 
mother, for the sake of your little ones, may God 
help you to watch your example. Of course 
fathers ought to set a good example too; they are 
inexcusable and guilty if they do not. But 
especially ought the mothers to do it, because the 
child is so directly under their influence. 



n6 



Bible Readings. 



I know a beautiful young lady, accomplished, 
stylish, and cultured, who is to-day a confirmed 
infidel, because of the inconsistent example of her 
mother, who claims to be a Christian. Mothers, 
there is not a preacher in America that has half the 
influence over your little children that you have. 
For their sakes, use it for good ; and bring them up 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. By 
your example you are to lead your children upward 
or downward. 

Next, let us consider the story of Jochebed. She 
influenced her child, Moses, by her protection. 
Ex. ii. 2, 3: "And the woman conceived and bare 
a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly 
child, she hid him three months. And when she 
could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark 
of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with 
pitch; and put the child therein; and she laid it in 
the flags by the river's brink." Pharaoh had 
issued his heartless decree that all the male chil- 
dren of the Hebrews should be put to death. 
When Moses was born, Jochebed resolved to save 
the beautiful child. At first she kept him in her 
own house, but after a while the child grew larger, 
and she could no longer protect him at home. 
She must send him away from the shelter of the 
home roof. Then she devised means by which his 
life might still be preserved. She wove or plaited an 
ark or small boat of bulrushes, perhaps something 
like the willow work of the present day, making it 
water-proof with pitch, and then she put the child in 
it, and placed it in the water. It would have been 



A Mother's Influence. 117 



of no use to put the child in the basket, or the bas- 
ket in the river, without the protecting influence of 
the pitch within and without. 

It is just so with you and your child. There is 
no cruel edict of a Pharaoh demanding the murder 
of your little ones, but they are exposed almost 
from the time they are born to ten thousand 
pernicious, demoralizing, and degrading influences 
from which it is your solemn duty to protect them. 
As long as they are under your roof, O mother, 
protect those little ones. How are you going to 
do it? 

In the first place, pitch their hearts and minds 
and consciences and souls with God's word so that 
they may be proof against the tide of sin which 
threatens to ingulf them. Imbed God's truth in 
the heart of a child, and after he has grown up 
there will not be powers enough on earth to shake 
his faith. I thank God that my parents instilled 
into my mind the very words of God as soon as 
I was able to take them in; and of all the passages 
that are precious to me those that were imprinted 
upon my heart and conscience in childhood are 
most so. 

Let me point out a few things against which you 
ought to protect your children while they are 
under your direct influence. They should be saved 
from the hollow conventionalities of what is called 
society; from the influence of such performances 
as Mrs. Jones goes through when she welcomes 
Mrs. Brown with her hypocritical, U I am so glad 
to see you." Show these things to your child in 



n8 



Bible Readings. 



their true light. Save the children from the 
hollow mockeries of fashionable society. 

Protect your child against the pernicious 
literature of our day. Baneful papers, pamphlets, 
tracts, and books are scattered broadcast all over 
this land. In a Southern city one of the leading 
book-store men said to me: u You would be 
astonished if you could come into this store of a 
Saturday afternoon or Saturday night, and see how 
many girls and boys buy dime novels to read on 
Sunday." He said, u Hundreds of the children 
are reading and devouring this pernicious trash, 
the adventures of Jesse James, Police Gazettes, 
and abominable novels. ' ' 

You would prosecute a butcher who would sell 
your children tainted meat; and still you let your 
darling little ones feed heart and mind and soul 
upon tainted, corrupting, poisonous literature. 
We suffer this putrid mind-food to be sold all over 
this land? May God help you to protect your 
children. It is your duty to God, and to your 
child, to know what your child reads, and to guard 
his intellectual and moral diet more carefully than 
you do the food that nourishes his body. 

Parents ought also to protect their children 
against games and amusements that lead to evil 
associations and vicious habits. We should save 
our boys from the insinuating and pernicious 
practice of card - playing. " O, " you answer, 
"just a little whist now and then at home — there is 
no harm in that certainly.' ' " There can be noth- 
ing wrong in a nice little fashionable progressive- 



A Mother's Influence. 119 

eucnre party. ' ' I know, and a great many people 
know that there are plenty of gamblers to-day who 
began their downward course by learning how to 
play cards in such games of whist or euchre, per- 
haps with their mothers, or sisters, or fathers, in 
the family room. Dear mothers and fathers, I beg 
you to put those pernicious cards in the fire when 
you get home. 

I hear somebody say, "It is fashionable. " I 
do n' t care if it is ; it is a fashion that has damned 
men socially, spiritually, eternally. While your 
children are young and under your immediate 
sympathy and influence, guard them against these 
things ; and when they go out into the world, 
let them go with their hearts fortified within and 
without with wholesome Bible doctrine. Then 
your sons and daughters will be able to run the 
gauntlet of temptation; they will not be drowned 
in this fashionable whirlpool. They will not live 
frivolous, useless lives and at last go down to 
eternal death. 

I want now to call your attention to a mother 
who influenced her child by her dedication of him 
to God. This mother was Hannah, and the child, 
Samuel. 1 Samuel i. 27, 28: "For this child I 
prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition 
which I asked of him; therefore also I have lent 
him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be 
lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord 
there." Hannah was a noble, faithful woman — 
not like many of your society women, who run 
off to the springs or the mountains in summer, 



120 



Bible Readings. 



and there, while they dance, play cards, and have 
a good time, turn their darling little ones over to 
some ordinary nurse. Nor was she like some of 
your women's rights women, who seem to think it 
a reproach to be a mother. She felt profoundly 
the high honor of having a child given to her by 
God. It was a privilege to take that child and 
dedicate it to God. Hear what she says, 4 ' I 
prayed for this child." "I have given him to the 
Lord and I will train him for the Lord." See her 
as she takes little Samuel and brings him to God's 
house and there dedicates him to God's service. 
I have no doubt she prayed for him while she 
made the little coats : which once a year she took 
to him in the sanctuary where he was growing up 
through a faithful childhood to be a holy and 
godly man, a prophet, and a judge in Israel. It is 
an honor to be a mother. Children are a blessing. 
The Book says, ' 4 Happy is the man that hath his 
quiver full of them." It is an honor to bring 
them up and to dedicate them to God and to his 
service. 

We are told that the father of Hannibal took him, 
when he was a little child, into the temple, and 
dedicated him to Mars, the god of war, and made 
the child swear that he would hate the Romans and 
fight them till he died. You know how faithfully 
Hannibal kept that vow. So, dear saints, take 
your little ones and dedicate them to Almighty 
God. In this I have no reference to infant baptism. 
I am not speaking of that. I want the child itself 
to be given to God. Will you excuse a reference to 



A Mother's Influence. 121 

my own personal history ? I give it to honor God 
and to enforce this principle. On the day of my 
birth my father took me in his arms and dedicated 
me to God and to the ministry, and prayed that the 
offering might be accepted. He never told me this 
for fear it might influence my decision about the 
ministry; and he died before I ever preached. But 
after his death my mother told me about it. When 
I get to heaven I expect to sit down under the 
shade of the trees on the banks of the river of life, 
and talk with my sainted father, who gave me to 
God the morning I was born. And I thank God 
that I had an earnest, faithful mother, who did not 
dedicate me to a dancing school, or to card playing, 
or any form of the service of the devil. 

Mothers, upon whose altars have you dedicated 
your children? Do I hear some of you say, "It is 
such a drudgery to be a mother and look after 
children ? ' ' You have not a correct idea of this 
matter at all. Was it drudgery to Hannah to 
make those little coats for Samuel? Was it 
drudgery to bring up that child for God ? Here is 
the true and noble mission of woman. Here is 
something higher than being President, than voting, 
or pleading law, or practicing medicine, or agitat- 
ing woman's rights, or managing civil government. 
Hannah did not try to do any of these things. 
What did she do ? She trained her son for God's 
work and the nation's work; and there is your 
duty, mother. Your business is not to try to rule 
church and state, but to be queen in the home; to 
train your children, to send forth sons whom God 



122 



Bible Readings. 



will honor. That is your honor, that is your 
glory. 

You may be poor, a mother in a humble home. 
It may be that you are saying to yourself : " Here I 
am circumscribed; I have to stay here all the time 
and cook for these little ones, wash and mend their 
clothes. It takes all my time. I am limited, tied 
down." Ah, mother, it may be a little John 
Wesley, a Whitfield, a Chalmers, a Moody, whose 
clothes you are patching, whose little stockings you 
are darning. 

Be faithful to God, and dedicate that little one 
to him; and though you may never be known by 
any body who lives out of sight of the smoke of 
your chimney, yet your son may win souls by the 
hundreds and thousands, and when he walks the 
streets of the New Jerusalem, you will go with him, 
leaning on his arm. 

Several years ago I was at Northfield, Mass., at 
Mr. Moody's home. I went to his house to see 
him and his mother, who was still living. There 
was the old house, formerly in the country, then in 
the village. Here that dear mother had reared her 
five or six sons. As I took her hand and looked 
into her face, I felt, "You are the woman that 
gave the world a man who has stirred two conti- 
nents. I would rather be you than Queen Victoria, 
the mother of the Prince of Wales. I would 
rather wear your crown than share all the pleasure 
and glitter of all the fashionable society women in 
the world." I thank God that the dear mother 
that toiled and worked for me, and struggled to 



A Mother's Influence. 123 



train up her boy for the ministry and the service of 
God, was spared to see her son preaching the 
gospel of Christ. The mother of Newton could 
not write the Principia, but she could be the 
mother of the man who did. Bacon's mother 
could not be a great philosopher and statesman, but 
the attainments and glory of her son shed a glory 
on her. Paul's mother could not be a great apostle 
and missionary, but every soul won to Christ by 
her son belongs also to her. 

When I think how glorious and exalted is the 
mother's mission I can scarcely restrain my con- 
tempt for these fastidious society women, whose 
only object in living seems to be pleasure, amuse- 
ment, entertainment — to be a sort of butterfly, just 
to flit around — and they look down upon mother- 
hood as if it were a reproach. But I also pity them 
from the depth of my heart; and it makes me sad 
to see these faithful mothers in Israel, these earnest, 
godly, level-headed, common-sense, old-fashioned 
women, passing off the stage of action, while many 
of those who are to succeed them are the frivol- 
ous devotees of fashion and pleasure who never 
had a serious thought of their responsibility to man 
or God. 

Let us next see how Elizabeth influenced her 
son, John the Baptist, by her holiness. Luke i. 6, 
14, 15: u And they were both righteous before 
God, walking in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord blameless And thou shalt 

have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at 
his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the 



124 



Bible Readings. 



Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong- 
drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, 
even from his mother's womb." 

These words refer to Zacharias and Elizabeth, 
and their son, John the Baptist, of whom Jesus 
said, u Among them that are born of women there 
hath not risen a greater.'' What kind of a mother 
did John the Baptist have ? We are told that with 
her husband she walked in all the commandments 
and ordinances of the Lord blameless. She did 
not walk with the fashionable, godless women who 
lived simply for pleasure and amusement. No. 
She was a holy, earnest woman, a woman filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and her son was a man filled 
with the Holy Ghost from his birth. 

We need holy women to be the mothers of the 
men who are to rule our country; to be the 
mothers of our future preachers and elders and 
deacons and stewards, the pillars in God's church. 
These foolish, frivolous, fastidious, society girls are 
not fit to be the mothers of such true, noble, godly 
men as the world and church need. Like produces 
like, and we need godly mothers walking in all the 
commandments and ordinances of the Lord, to rear 
a holy and godly generation. 

My hope for my country is not in the Democratic, 
nor the Republican, nor the Prohibition party. 
We must begin back at the family altar, back in the 
family circle, with godly women and godly men who 
will rear up their children in the nurture and ad- 
monition of the Lord. Then God will be honored, 
and civil and religious liberty will be perpetuated. 



A Mother's Influence. 125 

L,et us next look at a mother whose influence was 
evil. Herodias influenced her daughter to sin by 
her instruction. Matt. xiv. 7, 8 : u Whereupon he 
promised with an oath to give her whatsoever 
she would ask. And she, being before instructed 
of her mother, said, give me here John the Bap- 
tist's head in a charger. " Here is John the 
Baptist murdered in prison. How? By that 
young, foolish girl demanding of Herod that it 
should be done. And why did she demand it? 
She was " instructed" of her mother. A mother 
so instructed her child that the child demands the 
head — the life — of one of the greatest and best men 
that ever lived. What a contrast between the 
mother of John the Baptist and the mother of this 
girl! 

Which mother are you like ? How do you in- 
struct your children ? Do you instruct them in the 
oracles of God, in God's holy gospel, about salva- 
tion, about holy and godly living ? I am afraid 
many of you do not. I fear some of you are like 
Herodias, instructing your children how to play 
cards, how to dance, how to be fashionable. If so, 
God pity you. I don't know which to pity most, 
you or your child. Are you instructing your 
children in trashy, pernicious literature? Are 
you teaching them how to keep up with the latest 
fashions? Are you failing to instruct them in the 
great things of truth, righteousness, and godli- 
ness? 

Some people say it is no harm to dance. Here 
we learn that the head of one of the greatest men 



126 



Bible Readings. 



that was ever born was severed from his shoulders, 
the occasion being the subtle influence of a dance. 
It is a matter of record that of the thousands of 
fallen women in New York city the great majority 
were led into the beginning of their downward ca- 
reer through promiscuous dancing. 

Next, let us see how the Syrophenican mother 
helped her child by her prayer. Mark vii. 26 : 
* 4 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by 
nation; and she besought him that he would cast 
forth the devil out of her daughter." Here was a 
mother whose child was devil-possessed, and she 
prayed for that child, and continued to pray until 
she got the blessing. 

Do you pray for your children? Have your 
children ever heard you pray? Mothers, did you 
ever take those litle ones aside and pray with them 
in the closet? In the judgment day, when the 
sheep are on the right and the goats are on the left, 
will your child point a finger at you, mother or 
father, and say, U I never heard you pray. You 
never taught me how to pray, and now I am lost." 
God help you, mothers and fathers, to pray with 
your children! How can you have a mother's 
heart and influence, how can you occupy the posi- 
tion of a mother, and not take those darling little 
ones to God and pray with them and for them ? 
Nothing on earth should be accounted so high and 
sweet a privilege as to take your own darling little 
child and kneel down with it and put your hands 
upon its head and pray for it where nobody but 
the child and you and God can hear. I would 



A Mother's Influence. 



127 



thank God for the privilege of doing such a thing 
as that. 

May I give you an illustration from my own 
childhood experience? My father always had a 
family altar, but in addition to that, from the time 
that I could talk my mother taught me to lisp the 
name of Jesus. She taught me the Lord's Prayer, 
and that other little prayer which we have all 
learned, "Now I lay me down to sleep." But in 
addition to that she used to take me into the 
private chamber, close the door, kneel down with 
me by the bedside, put her hand on my head — I 
can feel that hand there to-day — and pray for me in 
an audible voice. She prayed with me, and taught 
me how to pray. I remember she taught me this 
prayer: "Lord, give me a pure heart. Lord, 
help me to love thee and to serve thee. Lord, 
keep me close to thee." I have prayed it a thou- 
sand times. I expect to pray it till I go up yonder 
where prayers shall end in praise and hope in 
sight. 

Finally, I want to speak of a mother who influ- 
enced her child by her faith. This was Eunice, 
the mother of Timothy. 2 Tim. i. 5: "When I 
call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in 
thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, 
and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that 
in thee also." This mother reared her son 
with unfeigned faith in God and in his promises, 
and the child grew into a godly man and a faithful 
minister. Here is an example for every loving and 
faithful mother. Bring up your children with 



128 



Biblk Readings. 



unfeigned and unwavering faith in God, in his 
word and his promises. Here is what God says 
to you, " Train up a child in the way he should 
go and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
Put unwavering faith in that promise. Bring up 
your children in that way, and when, like Jochebed, 
you have to send them forth, let your faith still be 
in God and he will keep them. 

Now, in conclusion, let me tell you the story of 
a believing and praying mother to illustrate this 
idea of a mother's faith, and to show how God 
will honor such faith and bless the children there- 
for. Several years ago I held a meeting in a town 
in a South-western State. The events I am going 
to relate occurred a short time before I reached 
there. There was in that town a man and his wife 
and three little children. After a while the father 
died and the mother was left a widow. She was 
poor, living in a little rented house, and sewing 
for a living. Soon she was taken sick, and after a 
long illness it became evident that she was going 
to die. The physician was there and a few Chris- 
tian men and women had gathered in. She said, 
"Call the children." They were brought in, and 
she took each little one by the hand and said, 
" Children, I am going to die to-day. I am poor, 
I have no home to leave you, no provisions, no 
money. I have nothing to leave you but God. I 
die with faith in him. He is the God of the cove- 
nant. I commit you, my little ones, into his 
hands. He will take care of you when mother is 
gone." And so she closed her eyes in death. 



A Mother's Influence. 129 

Now, the remarkable thing about this is that 
before that mother was laid in her grave, three of 
the best men in the town went to the house and 
each one took one of the little children, and adopt- 
ing it into his family, and making it his own child; 
each of these children had as good a home as there 
was in the town. 

Trust the God of the covenant. Mothers, 
fathers, commit your little ones to him and bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord; and God will give you your reward here and 
hereafter. 

9 



LAYING UP RICHES. 



" T AY not up for yourselves treasures upon 
earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, 
and where thieves break through and steal ; 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves do not break through nor steal ; for where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be also." — 
Matt. vi. 19-21. 

I want to call your attention to that first clause, 
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the 
earth." Will you please put the emphasis on your- 
selves ? I want to talk to you this morning about 
laying up riches. 

There is a very common mistake in the world, 
namely, that it is sinful to be rich. There is no 
harm in riches in themselves. There is no sin in 
being rich. Abraham, the father of the faithful, 
was perhaps the richest man of his day. Job, of 
whom God said, 1 1 He was a perfect man and up- 
right, and one who eschewed evil," was the 
richest man in all the East. That disproves the 
idea that riches are necessarily wicked, and that it 
is sinful to be rich. 

Another common idea is that there is a great deal 
of virtue in poverty. That, too, is a mistake. 

(130) 



Laying Up Riches. 



There is no virtue whatever in being poor. Some 
of the meanest men I have ever seen were among 
the poorest. We are not necessarily made worse 
by our riches, or made better by our poverty. It 
is a fact that there are dangers connected with 
riches. There are dangers also connected with 
poverty. That verse in the thirtieth chapter of 
Proverbs has it about right — " Give me neither 
poverty nor riches. ' ' 

Riches and the ability to make riches are gifts of 
God, just as much as ability to preach the gospel 
is an endowment. God has given to some men a 
preaching talent, and he will hold them account- 
able for their use or misuse of it. Just so, God has 
given you a money-making talent — a faculty that 
some men lack and can never acquire. Now, God 
is going to call you to account for the way in 
which you have used that talent, and also for the 
way in which you use or misuse the wealth that you 
accumulate by means of that talent. We are all 
u stewards of the mysteries of God." Some are 
stewards of the things of this world. One day 
all of us 'will have to give an account of our stew- 
ardship. 

The chief object of the Bible reading this 
morning is to get you business men to take in the 
Bible idea of your stewardship as business men, as 
men who make and handle money. 

There is another very common idea in the world, 
and a very mistaken one too. It is that business 
ought to be entirely separate from religion, and 
religion from business. If a business man adopts 



132 



Bible Readings. 



that idea, and continues to live up to it long 
enough, having all business and no religion, he 
will land at last in hell. And if a religious man 
has the other idea, that you are to have all religion 
and give no attention to business, then he will land 
in the poor-house. Let us put it as God puts it, 
" Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord." That is the Bible idea. 

Again, there is an idea that you ought not to 
have any money matters at all connected with 
religious matters and church matters. You have 
heard the story of the aged sister who went to 
church one day and became happy with overpower- 
ing religious emotion. Just how in the world she 
managed to u get happy " I never could understand. 
But the story is that she did, and she said, " Thank 
God for a free salvation. I have belonged to the 
church fifteen years, and it has cost me but fifteen 
cents." There are people who think that all kinds 
of religious, and gospel, and missionary work 
ought to be carried on without any money at all. 
Now, lest some one might misunderstand what I 
here say, let me add that I have been an evangelist 
for seven years, and during that time I have never 
had any salary, or asked a mortal man for one 
nickel. I have never made money a consideration 
in any engagement to go to any place. I am going 
to preach the gospel. If I am supported it is all 
right. If I starve I believe I will go to heaven. 

At the close of a camp-meeting a committee went 
around and made up some money for the evangelist. 
When this free-will offering was handed to the 



Laying Up Riches. 



J 33 



preacher, a young man who was sitting by said, 
4 1 Why, I thought you preached for souls, instead 
of money. " The minister answered, " But I can 't 
eat souls, and if I could it would take a dozen like 
yours to make a meal." 

Pastors, missionaries, and evangelists can not eat 
souls. God's work can not be carried on in that 
way. The business steward and the spiritual stew- 
ard should unite their energies for the glory of God 
and the good of souls. Sometime ago there were 
a number of men who proposed to put a fund of 
twenty-five thousand dollars at the disposal of Mr. 
Moody, to enable him and several other men that 
he might take with him, to go and evangelize the 
Indians. The matter was not consummated; but 
if the plan had been carried out, I hold that in the 
great day of final accounts the men who furnished 
the money that made the enterprise possible, would 
have had their full share of the reward. 

The text says, ' c Lay not up for yo7irselves. ' ' 
If it is no harm to be rich, why not lay up riches 
for yourselves ? Because there are some very great 
dangers in such a selfish laying up of earthly treas- 
ures. One object of the Bible reading this morn- 
ing is to point out the dangers that lie in the path 
of the man who is seeking wealth for himself and 
not for God. I will give you a few verses, each 
one of which will point out a specific danger. 

Why should a man not lay up riches ? I answer, 
first, because riches are very apt to make him for- 
get God. Hear the Book. Luke xii. 19-21 : 
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much 



134 



Bible Readings. 



goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, 
drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, 
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou 
hast provided ? So is he that layeth up treasure for 
himself, and is not rich toward God." 

There you have a case in point. There was a 
first-class, thorough -going business man. He was 
an agriculturist, and he did a legitimate business; no 
harm in it whatever. I have no doubt he was a 
sober, industrious, moral, upright, straightforward 
man. But he lost his soul. How? Because he 
was so occupied with his business, with his build- 
ing new barns and tearing down old ones, in pre- 
paring to carry on all of his affairs and enlarge his 
business, that he forgot God. Hear what he says : 
i 1 Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." 
He forgot God; and in that way he lost his soul. 

That is the trouble about your riches, and about 
getting them, and keeping them after you get 
them. They are likely to make you forget God. 
You are so absorbed in your ledger that you forget 
to read your Bible; you are so absorbed and busy 
that you neglect to keep the commandments and 
the Sabbath. You forget to pray, you forget to 
prepare to meet God. You make no arrangements 
for eternity, and after a while you die in an unex- 
pected hour, and your soul is eternally lost. 

Here you are, a business man. You are so 
wrapped up in your business that you go out to the 
post-office Sunday morning and get your letters; 



Laying Up Riches. 



*35 



and then you go by the store and sit down in your 
office and read until time to go to church. You 
take no time for religious meditation or preparation 
for worship. So you have little interest in the 
services and get little profit. Then you spend all 
the afternoon in thinking how you will answer 
the letters the morning mail brought you. Thus 
you are not only desecrating God's day, but forget- 
ting God and his commandments. You have no 
more right to give your time and thought to your 
mail and your business on Sunday than your 
neighbor has to spend the Sabbath in hoeing his 
corn. Or, perhaps you are a lawyer. You go to 
the post-office Sunday, and then go back and lock 
yourself up in your office, and spend the day in 
making up your briefs. You are working at a 
legitimate business, but at an illegitimate time. 
You are forgetting God. 

Here is a man on a farm. He must have a little 
buggy riding; he wants to ride any how, so he 
goes out on Sunday to look over his farm, and to find 
out what he must do during the week. He maps 
out the whole week's work Sunday afternoon. 
What is he doing? He is forgetting God while 
laying up treasures for himself. Dear friend, do 
not let any business, however honorable and laud- 
able in itself, crowd God out of your mind and 
heart. It will surely bring you trouble. 

Another danger is that these riches laid up, and 
the laying of them up, may cause us to reject 
Christ. Hear the word, Matt. xix. 22: 44 But 
when the young man heard that saying, he went 



136 



Bible Readings. 



away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.' ' 
That was a very wealthy young man, who laid up 
great riches for himself. He was a good, moral, 
upright young man, and we are told that Jesus 
loved him. That is, there was something pecu- 
liarly lovable about the young man. He came to 
Christ and said, " What good thing shall I do that I 
may inherit eternal life ? ' ' He wanted to be saved. 
Christ knew where the trouble was, and that his 
heart was all absorbed in his riches and set on 
them, and he said, 4 1 Go, and sell what you have, 
and give to the poor, and come and follow me." 
Thus the issue was squarely joined between God 
on the one hand and the man's riches on the other. 
When this dilemma was presented what did the 
young man do? He rejected Christ, and held on 
to his riches, and went away sorrowful. How 
many are doing that to-day! Those New York 
pastors will tell you how hard it is to reach many 
of the millionaires on Fifth Avenue, who have all 
that money can procure, all that heart can wish, 
faring sumptuously every day. Talk to such men 
about self-denial, about following the meek and 
lowly Jesus, about coming out for Christ and 
taking a stand with him, and you will find it as 
hard to reach them as men in China and Japan. 
Here is a man who has all that he wants, all that 
earth can give him. He can take his sea-voyages, 
and travel to the ends of the earth. He can live 
as he wishes, gratifying every desire and every 
whim. Talk to that man about self-denial; he is 
not going to hear or heed you. My experience 



Laying Up Riches. 



137 



and observation is that the hardest people in this 
world to reach are those that are so full of their 
good things that they think there is nothing better. 
Dear brother, be careful; you can not serve God 
and mammon. Many a man has rejected Christ 
for mammon. This is peculiarly the temptation 
of the rich. 

Another danger is that riches laid up for ourselves 
may choke the Scriptures. Matt. xiii. 22: u He 
also that received seed among the thorns is he that 
heareth the word; and the care of this world, and 
the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he 
becometh unfruitful." 

You very often choke God's word by the way in 
which you accumulate your riches, by the way in 
which you use them, and by the way in which you 
distribute them. What does God say about that ? 
u Provide things honest in the sight of all men." 
How do some men secure their riches? They 
catch a man in trouble and rob him by extortionate 
rates of interest or extortionate prices; they take a 
mortgage on his farm or his crop and enforce the 
mortgage. 

Some men want to accumulate wealth by dealing 
in lottery tickets. You can't buy lottery tickets 
and be an honest man. If you are successful you 
get something without giving value received. 
Whether you win or lose somebody is robbed and 
somebody gets something for nothing. Therefore 
it is a dishonest transaction. Again, some men 
deal in futures — wheat, cotton, tobacco, coffee, 
sugar — all sort of futures. You can't do that 



138 



Bible Readings. 



without choking the word. It is gambling, noth- 
ing else. 

It is hard to lay up those riches and not let them 
gain your heart and your affection. Hear what the 
Bible says, "No covetous man, who is an idolater, 
shall inherit the kingdom of God. n Whenever 
you love your riches better than you love God, you 
are an idolater and are choking God's word. The 
Bible teaches, furthermore, that we should honor 
God with our substance. And to those who failed 
to do this it was said, 4 ' Ye have robbed me in that 
ye have not brought the tithes into my store- 
house." 

There is only one way to get riches and at 
the same time not interfere with your spiritual life, 
and that is to make the outflow of your wealth 
proportionate to the inflow. Hence, God instituted 
the tithe system. Let a man pay the tenth of his 
income to the cause of God and humanity, and he 
may grow as rich as Abraham, and like Abraham 
he will be kept from becoming sordid or cove- 
tous. But some man answers, U A11 that tithing 
business was done away with when the ceremonial 
law was abolished." No, sir. The tithing system 
was instituted before the ceremonial law, and it 
was not abrogated by the ceremonial law, nor did 
Christ abrogate it. He said to the Pharisees, 
u That ye ought to have done, but ought not to 
have left the weightier matters of the law undone. 

May I give you just a little personal experience? 
I mention it to honor God and to show you that I 
am not discussing a theory but a practical rule 



Laying Up Riches. 



139 



of life. It has been my rule for years, and I am 
going to keep it up till I die. For years I have 
kept one of these little toy banks, and if I receive 
ten dollars I put one dollar into this bank; if I 
receive a hundred dollars 1 put ten into it. That 
is God's bank and God's money. I take part 
of that money to buy tracts for gratuitous distribu- 
tion; some of it I send to a missionary; some to a 
widow or orphan, or to help build a church, or to 
assist some other needy cause or person. That is 
God's money, and must go to his cause and king- 
dom. And let me use a strong expression — I 
would as soon put my hand in my neighbor's 
pocket and take out a dollar and put into mine, as to 
receive ten dollars and not put one into the Lord's 
bank. I have found it a means of grace to my 
soul, and I thank God for it. I find I can live 
on the nine tenths with God's blessing better 
than on the ten tenths without it. I hear some- 
body say, u Do n't the Bible say, Let not your 
right hand know what your left hand doeth?" 
That is about alms and not about tithes, paying 
tithes is a requirement, giving alms is a voluntary 
offering. 

Here is where the hitch comes in the manage- 
ment of ecclesiastical affairs. Why is it so much 
trouble to raise the pastor's salary, to pay the inci- 
dental expenses of the church, and to get money 
to meet all the great obligations resting on God's 
people ? Christians are not paying the tithe of 
their income into God's house, and the wheels 
of Zion are clogged. And what does the church 



140 



Bible Readings. 



have to do ? It has to resort to these abominable 
bazaars, church suppers, raffles, and every conceiv- 
able abomination of that kind, all of them abso- 
lutely unscriptural. There have been church 
suppers at which the most beautiful young lady in 
town dished out about two spoonfuls of ice-cream 
with a little piece of cake and charged a sinner 
fifty cents, and when he handed her a two dollar 
bill she put it in her pocket, saying, " We don't 
make any change here." That is bringing God's 
cause into disrepute. The whole principle is 
wrong. God's cause is not a pauper's cause, let it 
stand on its merits and let every man that belongs 
to the church lay aside the tenth of his income for 
the work of the Master. Then the wheels of Zion 
will be oiled. You will have no more trouble 
about church finances. You will hear no more 
sarcastic sneers at the church of God. Dear saints, 
we must honor God with our substance. Only 
thus can we keep from choking the Scriptures in 
their teaching on this subject. 

Again, laying up riches for ourselves endangers 
heaven — that is, it may cause you to miss heaven. 
Matt. xix. 23: "Then said Jesus unto his disci- 
ples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall 
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." What 
does that mean? U A rich man shall hardly" — 
that is, with difficulty — get into the kingdom. 
Does that mean that it is any harder for God to 
save a rich man than a poor man ? No. Does it 
mean that a rich man is any meaner than a poor 
man? No. What does it mean? It means ex- 



Laying Up Riches. 



141 



actly this that riches laid up for one's self are 
likely to make a man forget God and reject Christ; 
likely to choke the word in his heart. What is 
the inevitable result ? It is a very difficult thing 
for such a man to get to heaven. It is very diffi- 
cult to lay up riches for yourself and not let them 
absorb your attention, your heart, your soul. 

Another danger is that riches laid up selfishly 
will drown men in perdition. 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10: 
" But they that will be rich fall into temptation 
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdi- 
tion. For the love of money is the root of all evil; 
which while some coveted after, they have erred 
from the faith, and pierced themselves through 
with many sorrows." 

"They that will be rich"— that is, they that 
adopt the motto of the grasping father who sent his 
son out into the world with this charge : 4 ' You are 
twenty-one, you are starting in life. Now, make 
money; honestly, if you can, but — make money!" 
The idea was, be rich at all hazards. That is the 
impelling motive with many to-day. They make 
up their minds that they will be rich, regardless 
of consequences. 

Let us look at some of the manifestations of that 
evil determination to be rich at any cost. Do you 
know that Americans have already obtained a 
world-wide reputation as a nation of gamblers? 
We gamble in futures, on horse-races, cards, presi- 
dential and every other kind of elections. We will 
be rich. What is the result ? Our young men 



142 



Bible Readings. 



have caught the infection, and they are on a break- 
neck race after wealth. So we read constantly 
about embezzlements and defaulting bank cashiers 
and bank presidents, about the misuse of money by 
treasurers and officials. How many men, honored 
in church and society, have found their way from 
high positions of trust to disgrace and prison! Men 
will be rich. And they drown themselves in per- 
dition and pierce themselves through with many 
sorrows. We are to a great extent a nation, not 
only of gamblers, but of idolaters. We have made 
up our minds to be rich ; God is forgotten and his 
word is choked, set entirely aside, and we have 
pierced ourselves through with many sorrows. We 
have erred from the faith, and how many have 
drowned themselves in social, personal, moral, and 
eternal perdition! 

Young men, let me give you one word of advice 
this morning. It is a great deal better to be willing 
to marry a plain, simple girl that will help you 
live a domestic life and to have a quiet little home; 
to work with your hands for an honest living; to 
rear your family for God, laying up treasures in 
heaven; to live and die a well-to-do, respectable, 
honorable citizen, and at last go to heaven, than to 
start out in this high, fast line of speculation, gam- 
bling, and trickery, forgetting God and choking 
God's word. You may perhaps make a fortune in 
speculation by the time you are forty, and then die 
with softening of the brain, and go down to hell. 
Dear young man, the other is a great deal better 
policy. May God help you. 



Laying Up Riches. 143 



You older men, and middle aged men, who are 
striving to lay up riches, forgetting God, and 
choking the word, for what or for whom are you 
laying up these treasures ? You say, 1 ' For my 
children. I want my son to have twenty-five 
thousand dollars when he is twenty-one." Yes, 
and perhaps you have not brought that boy up 
with sound business habits, and when he is twenty- 
one, and you give him twenty-five thousand dollars, 
he will not know what a dollar is worth. He has 
no business habits, and perhaps in five years he 
will squander it all in some foolish and reckless 
enterprise. And then he will be bankrupt, indeed, 
with no money, no business habits; and, perhaps, 
disgraced for life. Bring up your boy with correct 
ideas of honesty, with business habits and sound 
moral training, and when he is twenty-one, if he is 
worth any thing he will make his way in the 
world, and if he is not, he would waste all the 
money you could give him. 

Suppose you say, 1 ( I am laying up riches for my 
daughter." About your daughter, I would advise 
you to bring her up to be a sensible, domestic 
young woman, not ashamed and not afraid to work, 
with some idea in her head above fashion and 
society. Give her a competency ? Yes. But sup- 
pose you leave her with a great fortune. About 
the time that you are dead, along comes one of 
these sleek, kid-gloved, diamond-studded, patent- 
leather-shoed adventurers, seeking to mend his 
worldly prospects. He gets your girl and your 
money, and she probably dies of a broken heart. 



144 



Bible Readings. 



You would better teach your daughters more com- 
mon sense, more industry, and spend less time in 
this wild chase for money. 

Another peculiarity about riches is that they 
fade away. James i. n: "For the sun is no 
sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth 
the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the 
grace of the fashion of it perisheth ; so also shall 
the rich man fade away in his ways." 

Riches take unto themselves wings and fly away. 
I do not know how it is here in South Carolina, 
but I know in my own native State, Mississippi, 
many heaped up wealth before the war, and some 
of them since, and it made to itself wings and 
flew away. Several years ago I went down to 
Vicksburg, Miss., to hold a meeting, in January. 
There had been an unusually heavy snow; and the 
people had rolled up great snow-balls, and made 
snow-men, and snow-houses. About twelve o'clock 
the sun came out bright and warm, and by night 
all these snow treasures were melted away. All had 
vanished forever from sight. So your stock ex- 
change and your merchants' exchange, your bank- 
ers and men of business, are all a lot of big boys, 
rolling up bank shares instead of snow-balls, and 
after a while the sun will rise with burning heat, 
and your earthly riches will melt and vanish; your 
life squandered, and your money gone, hell will be 
your portion. Lay up your treasures at God's right 
hand, " an inheritance that fadeth not away." 

But another trouble about riches is that they sat- 
isfy not. Eccl. v. 10 : " He that loveth silver shall 



Laying Up Riches. 



H5 



not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth 
abundance with increase; this is also vanity." 

Dear friend, that silver can not satisfy the wants 
of your heart, nor of your body or soul. The 
more a man gets of these things the more he wants. 

They can not satisfy even the wants of your 
body in this life. There w r as a certain wealthy 
woman in New York, a member of one of the 
great millionaire families, that paid $7,000 a year 
for a French cook, and then she could only eat 
a hoe-cake and drink sweet milk. I can enjoy 
more than that. With all of her wealth she was 
unsatisfied. Another of New York's millionaires 
said just a short time before he died, u O that I 
could digest one good meal and get one night's 
sound sleep. " We, though poor, can enjoy what 
all this man's wealth could not buy. And when 
you come to talk about the conscience and the 
heart and the soul and the inward yearning for 
salvation and eternal life, dear dying man, riches 
can not satisfy these. Therefore God says, " Why 
spend your money for that which satisfies not and 
your labor for that which is not bread? " 

Another trouble about laying up riches for your- 
selves is that they profit not in the day of wrath. 
Prov. xi. 4 : " Riches profit not in the day of 
wrath." 

There was a certain rich man that died, and 
when he was dying he said, " Save me, doctor; 
save me ! There are two trunks of money under 
the bed, and plenty in the bank. Save me!" 
But his money could not save him, and his money 
10 



146 



Bible Readings. 



could not profit him; and, dear dying man, what 
will your riches profit you in the day of wrath? 
When your naked soul stands before the all-search- 
ing eye of the omnipotent God, what will all you 
have heaped up and hoarded profit you? If you 
lay up treasures for yourself and forget God and 
reject Christ, what will be the result ? In the first 
place, you lose your money, for you can't carry it 
with you, and in the next place you lose your soul. 
Hence, the Savior asks, "What shall it profit 
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 
soul?" You lose both your soul and the world. 
Dear friend, give your heart to God; seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
these other things shall be added unto you. 

Another reason why we should not lay up riches 
for ourselves is that they rust and they canker. 
James v. 1-3 : 1 1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep 
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon 
you. Your riches are corrupted, and your gar- 
ments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is 
cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness 
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. 
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last 
days." Now what about this canker, this rust? 
When you stand before Almighty God, it will eat 
your flesh as the fire. What do the rust and 
canker prove? That you have not been a faithful 
steward of the treasure that God has committed to 
your keeping; you have not turned it over; you 
have hoarded it and stored it away, and have not 
been using it for God's glory and the good of the 



Laying Up Riches. 



147 



world and the advancement of God's kingdom. 
Therefore it has rusted and cankered, and this very 
rust and canker will condemn you at God's bar; 
will eat your flesh as rust in iron. 

How did you lay up your earthly treasure? 
Keep that question in view. Did you grind the 
poor, by shaving notes. Did you exact extortionate 
interest when you caught your neighbor in financial 
distress ? Did you lay up riches by dishonesty 
or deception, by having a yard -stick thirty-five 
inches long, by sharp practice, by keeping back 
part of the truth? If so your money will rust, it 
will canker in that day. Did you prosper by 
oppressing the poor? If so, may God help you. 
Your gold will rust and canker; it will eat your 
flesh as doth a fire. I think it is about this way : 
When a man stands at the judgment bar of God 
and looks back upon a lost life-time and a lost 
world, when he sees the work that might have 
been done, the good that was within his reach, the 
churches that might have been built, the mission- 
aries that might have been sent to teach the 
heathen in foreign lands, the millions that might 
have been saved; he then takes in the thought, 
u Instead of doing that, I hoarded, I buried my 
wealth, it is rusted and cankered; and now, I have 
not only been an unfaithful steward, I have not 
only done what I ought not to have done with my 
money, I not only have no profits left but I have 
lost my soul in the bargain. And here is the 
miserable rust and canker eating my flesh as it 
were a fire." 



148 



Bible Readings. 



It is a privilege to live, 

" For the right that needs assistance, 
For the wrong that needs resistance, 
And the heaven that smiles above us, 
And the good that we can do." 

When we see a man with all these grand possi- 
bilities around him, living a sordid, miserly life, 
his only object the acquiring and hoarding of 
wealth, we are amazed at such prostitution of God- 
given faculties and opportunities. Money, like 
any other blessing of God, may be a means of 
grace, and a power for good. Other things being 
equal, the more money a man has the more good 
he can do in this world. Here is a man who is 
good, godly, and devout, but having no wealth he 
can not do very much for the world or for mankind, 
while another, also honest, faithful, but no better, 
being a man of means, can do a great deal more; 
and God will hold him to account for what he has 
ability to do. 

Finally, we have this exhortation from 1 Tim. 
vi. 11 : u But thou, O man of God, flee these things 
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, 
patience, meekness." This applies not simply 
to the preacher, but to every child of God. Let 
every one flee these things which lead to forgetting 
God, to rejecting Christ; which choke the word 
and endanger heaven ; which drown men in perdi- 
tion, which at their best fade away and satisfy not, 
and at the last rust and canker and eat our flesh as 
doth a fire. 



FORGIVING ENEMIES. 



UR topic is the Forgiveness of Enemies. I 



want to ask three questions and let God's 



word answer them. First, What is required 
of us concerning our enemies? Second, Why is 
this required of us ? Third, Have we any example 
of perfect obedience to this requirement? We 
have a number of verses under each of these 
heads. It is not a question of opinion; it is not a 
question of intepretation ; it is not a question of 
what men may think; but a question of what God 
says. God's word is to be the rule of faith and 
practice on this as well as on other subjects. 

Very few, if any, of us go through this world 
without some collision of opinion, interest, or feel- 
ing with others; and very few pass through life 
without having, at some time or other, at least a 
temporary animosity, and a temporary, if not a 
permanent, enemy. Now, what does God teach 
us concerning our enemies? I answer, first, he 
requires that we forgive them, Mark xi. 25: 
"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if he have 
aught against any: that your Father also which is 
in heaven may forgive your trespasses." That is 
a plain, straightforward, unequivocal command. 
"When you stand praying, forgive" — not when 




(i49) 



Bible Readings. 



you stand praying God to forgive you, but when 
you pray to God for any thing, or about any thing, 
the first thing that you are to do is to forgive. 
Forgive any and all who have trespassed against 
you; who have wronged you or, in any way, 
whether rightly or wrongly, incurred your ani- 
mosity or ill-will. Mark it: there is not an "if/' 
there is not an 44 and," there is not a condition, 
there is not an hypothesis connected with that re* 
quirement. It is a plain, unequivocal, direct, spe- 
cific command of God, Forgive. 

I hear some man say, "Do you mean I am to 
forgive that man who cheated me, that man who 
swore a lie against me, that man who slandered me 
in the last campaign, that man who traduced my 
character? Do you mean to say that I am to for- 
give him?" God says so. 4 4 But, " you answer, 
" I will forgive him if he is worthy to be forgiven." 
God does not say any thing about his worthiness. 
On that basis I would like to know how you would 
ever get pardon for your meanness ; and get God to 
forgive your sins. That man is as worthy of your 
forgiveness as you are of God's. On the score 
of worthiness you would shut yourself out of 
heaven. If you accept God's plan, so far as your 
own forgiveness is concerned, you must accept it 
concerning the forgiveness of your enemies. 

But some one replies, 44 1 would forgive him if 
he would come half way." God does not say any 
thing about coming half way. Another says, 44 1 
would forgive him if he would ask me to forgive 
him." But God does not hinge your duty upon 



Forgiveness oe Enemies. 151 

another man's condnct. You are to forgive 
whether he ought to be forgiven or not; whether 
he asks to be forgiven or not; and whether he 
conies half way or not. You are to do what God 
says and let the consequences take care of them- 
selves. There is no escaping the conclusion unless 
you repudiate God's holy word. If you do that I 
have nothing more to say. My business is to give 
you God's word, pure and simple and unadulter- 
ated; men can receive it or reject it. The respon- 
sibility for its reception is with them; my respon- 
sibility ends with giving God's message; and, he 
being my helper, I will deliver his message faith- 
fully. What are you going to do about it ? Some 
one answers, 1 4 1 am not going to forgive that man or 
woman that did me such injustice and wrong." 
Very well; we will find a verse directly that will 
tell what will become of you if you do not. Did 
you notice that verse? Forgive, in order that 
your Father in heaven may also forgive you. 

Another thing that God requires of us concern- 
ing our enemies is this : that we be reconciled unto 
them. Matt. v. 23, 24: " Therefore if thou bring 
thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that 
thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there 
thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be 
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift." Here is a man coming to the altar 
of prayer, the altar of worship, of communion with 
God. Now, if any man have aught against him, 
if there is any thing of animosity, or revenge, or 
unforgiveness, or unkindness, or misunderstanding 



Bible Readings. 



between him and his fellow-man, what is he to do? 
He is to go first and be reconciled to that man. I 
tell you Christ meant something when he said, 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 

Go and be reconciled. I hear some man say, 
u But here is a man not willing to be reconciled; 
he will not be reconciled." Have you done what 
God tells you to do ? Your duty is to make an hon- 
est, faithful effort to be reconciled. If you have 
done this and the man is still stubborn and unrea- 
sonable; if he will not listen to an honorable 
explanation or accept due satisfaction then you 
have done what God tells you to do, you have done 
your duty; you have made an honest effort at 
reconciliation. There is a reconciliation so far as 
you are concerned; there is an entire reconciliation 
so far as you can effect it; and therefore you have 
done right, and you stand clear before God, and 
the other man will have to settle w r ith God for his 
part of the trouble. 

How much better the world, the church, and 
society, would be if we followed the plain, simple 
instruction of Christ in matters of this kind. A 
great deal of the bickering and the strife and ani- 
mosity between man and man, between families, in 
churches, in communities and even in nations 
arises out of a misconception of something, based 
perhaps on a misunderstanding or an erroneous 
conclusion jumped at, or on an unfounded rumor, or 
a false construction that some mischief-making 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 153 

person has put upon something that was said or 
done. 

Suppose Smith hears that Jones is angry with 
him, stirred up and full of ill-will. Now, suppose 
he goes to Jones and says, 4 4 Look here, I under- 
stand you are angry with me." "Yes, I am." 
1 ■ 1 understand that you heard so and so. " " Yes, 
I did." "Now, let me tell you; here is what I 
said, and this is what I meant. Somebody has 
gone to you and changed the verbiage a little; 
colored the idea a little; and you have a wrong 
conception of what I said and of what I meant." 
If the other is an honorable and fair and upright 
man he will say, "Now I see it in its true 
light. If that is all you said and all you meant, 
then I forgive, and there is nothing of it, and we 
are just as we were before." Now, that is what 
Jesus Christ means. Has any body any thing 
against you ? Does any body misunderstand you ? 
Don't go about sulking? Do not tattle to your 
neighbors about it. Go straight to the person who 
is offended, and, like an honest man, make an 
honest statement of the truth; and if the thing 
can be settled vou will settle it that way, and if it 
can not be settled you will have done your duty. 

But a great many good people, and sometimes 
Christian people, take a very different course. One 
hears what such a person said about him, and in- 
stead of going to the person and asking him about 
it, and ascertaining if he did say it, and requesting 
an explanation, he jumps to a conclusion, and list- 
ens to the long-tongued tattlers that brought this 



154 



Bible Readings. 



information and misrepresented facts. Then he 
magnifies the story and says a great many things 
himself, and strikes back. I hardly know what to 
call the tale-bearers that carry snch stories back 
and forth. You know Milton, in his u Paradise 
Lost," describes the progeny of the devil and sin 
as " hell-hounds." I have thought if there is any 
thing in this world that Milton's hell-hounds cor- 
respond to it is these tattling, gossiping people that 
will, when they hear any body say any thing, or see 
somebody do something, go straight to the person 
spoken about, or interested, and repeat the story, 
and add to it and put a false color on it. Nor do 
they stop there, but they wait to hear what the per- 
son to whom they bring the news will say, and then 
they take the report back and hand it over. I say 
if such tale-bearers do not correspond to Milton's 
hell-hounds I know nothing in humanity that does. 
Thus mischief - making stories are kept going. 
Neighbor is stirred up against neighbor; brother is 
angry with brother. When they meet on the street 
they avoid each other and refuse to speak. The 
devil gets the better of them; the fire of indigna- 
tion and wrath and perdition is stirred up in their 
hearts. There is a hopeless feud, ending perhaps 
in bloodshed. Dear friends, would it not be a great 
deal better for us in this world, and the world to 
come, if we would obey the teachings of God's 
word. 5e reconciled, or make an honest effort. 

I imagine I hear some one asking a very perti- 
nent question : 4 ' Suppose somebody takes up a fool- 
ish, nonsensical notion, and out of that imagines 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 155 

that he has something against you; are you to go 
around and try to correct every whimsical idea that 
some foolishly sensitive or sentimental person may 
have?" No; God's word was never intended to be 
applied to nonsensical things, to silly imaginations. 
It says, ' ' If thy brother have aught against thee " — 
that is, if he really has some cause of offense against 
you, not if he simply z??iagznes some vain, delusive, 
absurd thing. 

Let us go a step farther. Another thing that the 
Bible enjoins upon us is that we speak no evil of 
our enemies. Titus iii. 2 : " To speak evil of no 
man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all 
meekness unto all men. " My friends, that is some- 
thing this world would do well to heed. Some peo- 
ple think that if they have an enemy they have an 
express permit to reproach and villify him as much 
as they please. If somebody has lied about them, 
or stolen from them, or defrauded them, or become 
their enemy in any way, they think they have a 
right to abuse and revile that person on all occa- 
sions. It is a great mistake. God's word for it, you 
have no right to speak evil of that man who has 
slandered you or burned your house. You have a 
right to speak the facts; you have a right to come 
into town and report it to the legal authorities, but 
you have not a right to speak evil of a man unless 
you are speaking facts in order that law and justice 
may be vindicated and a guilty man punished. 
There is a great deal of difference between speak- 
ing facts about an evil man and speaking evil ru- 
mors about a man. 



156 



Biblk Readings. 



Here is oue of the meanest things in the world : 
If you hear a vague rumor about some man, or a 
vague rumor about your enemy, to go and retail 
that rumor. A story gets into the newspaper, per- 
haps, about some Christian, a pastor it may be, or 
an evangelist; or about a politician, or any body else. 
It is a mean thing to be repeating such a rumor. 
It is a violation of the Scripture, whether the evil 
report is about an enemy or about any other man. 
" Speak evil of no man." You have no right to 
speak evil even of your enemies. 

Another duty we owe our enemies is to pray for 
them. Matt. v. 44: u But I say unto you, Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
to them that hate you, and pray for them which de- 
spiteful ly use you and persecute you. n That is 
what God says you are to do. u Pray for them " — 
not with a kind of ritualistic reading off of prayer 
for the wicked and the godless and the vile in a 
sort of general way, but pray specifically, directly, 
personally, for them that hate you and despitefully 
use you and persecute you. Think of the person 
in all the world that you have most reason to hate, 
and pray for him. 

Another thing required of us concerning our ene- 
mies is to feed them. Rom. xii. 20: " Therefore 
if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give 
him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of 
fire on his head." This does not mean that you are 
to support your enemy and his wife and children. 
Your enemy ought to make an honest living for 
himself. But if through misfortune your enemy is 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 157 

in absolute want it is your duty to feed him; it is 
your duty to divide your meat and bread with him. 

Suppose that a man in this town is your avowed 
and bitter personal enemy. He has a little home 
down the street. Suppose he sells whatever other 
property he has, puts all the money in his pocket, 
and goes home and retires at night with his wife 
and his little ones. In the night his house takes 
fire and burns down over their heads. He and his 
wife and children just barely escape with their lives. 
They have no money, no house, nothing to eat. 
Now would you go and buy provisions and cloth- 
ing and send them to that man ? That would be 
practical godliness. Would you help that man and 
his family in their distress ? Would you show sym- 
pathy and try to do them good? "No," says some 
man, "I would not do it." If you would not your 
heart is not right with God. The devil, I suppose, 
would not do it either. 

But another thing that is required of us — and it 
is perhaps the hardest requirement of all — is that 
we are to love our enemies. Matt. v. 44: "But I 
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray 
for them which despitefully use you and persecute 
you." "Ah," says some man, "I can't do that." 
I know, by yourself, in your own strength, you can 
not; I know that your wicked, deceitful heart can 
not; neither can mine; but by God's grace you can. 
God says, "My grace is sufficient for you," and he 
never gives a command without giving grace to 
obey. A regenerated man, in whose heart is shed 



158 



Bible Readings. 



abroad the love of God by the Holy Ghost, can love 
his enemies; and if he is soundly converted he will 
love them. It does not say you are to love your en- 
emies' ways. Your enemy may be a thief, you are 
not to love his thefts; your enemy maybe a liar, 
you are not to love his lying; your enemy may be a 
drunkard, you are not to love his drunkenness. But 
you are to love him, his soul; his spiritual and eter- 
nal welfare is to be near your heart. 

You have a child who is naughty; perhaps you 
would not admit it but some people know it. Some- 
times he tells an untruth, sometimes he disobeys 
you, sometimes he acts very unbecomingly. You 
do not love these ugly short-comings in your child, 
but you love the child. Just so with us. God does 
not love our abominable sins; he hates them. But 
over and above and beyond and back of our sins he 
loves us. He loved us while we were dead in tres- 
passes and in sins, and at enmity with God. God 
loves us, and requires us to love our enemies. 

Just here is one of the strongest arguments for 
the divinity of Christ. His is the only religion that 
requires men to love their enemies. What did Mo- « 
hammedanism say? Take a sword in one hand and 
the Koran in the other. Christianity says, "Love 
your enemies. " It is not only the only religion that 
requires this, but it is the only religion that can ena- 
ble mankind to do it. 

Now, let us consider the second question : Why 
are these things required of us? In common law 
there is always a reason that lies under every law. 
Just so there is a reason beneath every command 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 159 

and requirement in God's Book. Now, why does 
God require us to forgive, to be reconciled to our 
enemies, and to speak no evil? He gives the rea- 
sons in his word. 

First, God requires these things at our hands that 
our prayers may not be hindered in the securing of 
that for which we pray. Hear the Book, Matt. v. 
23, 24: u Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the 
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath 
aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the 
altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy 
brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Here 
a man goes to the altar of prayer to ask for a bless- 
ing. God says, u Stop, go first and be reconciled 
to your brother." Why? In order that the man's 
prayers may be heard, that his gift maybe accepted. 
A man comes to the altar of prayer and in his heart 
is a spirit of animosity, a spirit of revenge, a spirit 
of rankling hatred against somebody. What will 
such a spirit in him do ? It will quench the Spirit 
of God; it will hinder the fervor and earnestness 
of his prayer, it will hinder the accomplishment of 
his prayer. While the man is thus living in diso- 
bedience to what God requires he can not be blessed. 
God wants you to go and be reconciled. He wants 
to hear your prayer, he wants to give his children 
what they need. But his children must do right, 
and they must be right; and they can not be right 
with these unforgiving thoughts and feelings in 
mind and heart. 

This brings us to a very practical question. Here 
are many church members. For a long time some 



i6o 



Bible Readings. 



of you may have been at enmity with somebody in 
town. You have been indulging in very unkind 
and unforgiving feelings. What has been the re- 
sult ? Your prayers have been hindered, your spir- 
ituality has been chilled, your communion with 
God has been interrupted. There may be many 
reasons for your spiritual coldness and deadness, 
but this is one, and if there were no other it alone 
would be sufficient. Now, go and do what God 
tells you to do; make an honest effort to get right 
with your enemy, and then come back and you will 
be in a proper frame of mind to pray. Your heart 
must be right with your fellow-man and with your 
God, and then God will hear and answer your prayer. 
The devil understands human nature, and he knows 
what is involved in this matter. He does all he can 
to keep up this spirit of revenge, animosity, and 
relentlessness. Why? He wants to hinder your 
prayer and communion with God, and to check and 
dwarf your spiritual growth. But God, for the op- 
posite reason, wants you to forgive. Now, shall we 
Christians follow the guidance of our loving heav- 
enly Father, who wants us to do the things that 
will prepare us to love him more and serve him 
better ; or shall we obey the devil, and follow his 
suggestions, choosing the very things that will 
cloud our souls, interfere with our communion, and 
separate us from the enjoyment of God's love? This 
world can do as it will, but by God's grace I will 
forgive any thing, every thing, for I want to live in 
communion with God, and abide in fellowship with 
Christ, and I will not, God's grace helping me, let the 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 161 

world, the flesh or the devil interfere. Christ-like, 
Holy-Ghost godliness goes right along forgiving 
enemies. 

Another reason why we are required to forgive 
our enemies is that we oitrselves may be forgiven. 
Mark xi. 26 : " But if ye do not forgive, neither will 
your Father which is in heaven forgive your tres- 
passes. n That is one of the most searching pass- 
ages in God's truth. Now, some of you said in 
your hearts a while ago, ( ' I am not going to forgive 
my enemy. n Stick to that and you will never en- 
ter heaven. You refuse to forgive your enemy and 
God says in his word he will not forgive you; he 
can not forgive you and be consistent. To refuse 
to forgive is rebellion against God ; it is a violation 
of the statute of the Almighty — deliberate disobe- 
dience. Do you expect God to forgive and save 
you while you are living in known, willful disobe- 
dience to his word? Not only do you forfeit for- 
giveness by your disobedience and rebellion, but 
your unforgiving, revengeful state of mind unfits 
you to receive Jesus Christ. You can not trust 
Christ nor be saved. 

Another reason why you should show mercy to 
others is that you yourself may obtain mercy. Matt, 
v. 7: " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy." An unforgiving spirit is an unmerciful 
spirit; it is an unChrist-like, a satanic spirit. Jesus 
Christ forgave his bitterest, deadliest enemies, even 
those that crucified him. Therefore forgiveness is 
Christ-like, and God says if you have not the spirit 
of Christ you are none of his . Do not tell me you 



l62 



Bible Readings. 



are a saint, and that your name is written in the 
book of life, if you are not willing to forgive. It 
is not Satan's nature to forgive. Revenge, ani- 
mosity, and hatred are the quintessence of the spirit 
of the devil; therefore — I will use strong language — 
if you will not forgive, if you persist in an unfor- 
giving spirit, you are devil-possessed. Why? We 
are told that the devil entered into Judas Iscariot 
and he sold the Son of God, and the devil enters 
into that man who has this rankling, unforgiving 
spirit and will not give it up. 

In the next place, we ought to forgive our ene- 
mies m order that zve may be the childreii of God. 
Matt. v. 45 : u That ye may be the children of your 
Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
rain on the just and on the unjust." Now, notice 
the connection. I will repeat the 44th verse, which 
was read a while ago: 4 4 But I say unto you, Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
to them that hate you, and pray for them which de- 
spitefully use you and persecute you." Then fol- 
lows this 45th verse : 4 4 That ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven." Now, you 
see the argument is based on the conduct of our 
heavenly Father. Does he not feed his enemies? 
Yes. Does he not love his enemies and do good to 
them? Yes. Now, if you are going to be like 
that Father, you must have enough of the parental 
likeness to do to your enemies what your Father 
does. There is no higher proof that we are the 
children of the heavenly Father who loves and 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 163 

feeds his enemies, and sends the rain and sunshine 
upon his enemies, than that we do to our enemies 
as God here commands us to do. 

Now, we come to the third and last question, 
Have we any example of obedience to this divine 
rule ? Somebody says, 4 ' That is a very fine theory 
you are presenting this morning. " Yes; it is fine 
because it is God's theory. But I hear a man say, 
"But is it practical? Can the thing be done? 
Have we an example of obedience to this gospel 
law of forgiveness ? n Yes, thank God, we have. 
It is found in the life and death of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He is our great exemplar. In his footsteps 
God tells us we are to follow. 

Now let us read Luke xxiii. 34: "Then said Je- 
sus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do. And they parted his raiment and cast 
lots." This shows us Jesus Christ doing just what 
we have been teaching that you ought to do — lov- 
ing his enemies ; giving his body, his life, the bread 
of heaven, for them. He was giving himself for 
these enemies, and there at the cross he prayed for 
them. You talk about how somebody has wronged 
and mistreated you, but no man or woman on earth 
ever treated you half as meanly and vilely as you 
have treated Almighty God Yet God is willing 
to forgive you, and Jesus Christ forgave those ene- 
mies of his who had treated him a thousand times 
worse than any enemies ever treated you- Now, if 
we have the spirit of Jesus we too can forgive; nay, 
if we have this spirit we will do it. And if we 
profess to be God's children and are not willing to 



164 



Bible Readings. 



follow the example of the Lord Jesus there is some- 
thing wrong. Christ not only preached this divine 
doctrine but he practiced it. 

Again, Gal. ii. 20: "I am crucified with Christ: 
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I 
live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, 
and gave himself for me." Who is it that says 
this? It is Saul of Tarsus, one of the most bitter 
and violent enemies that Jesus Christ ever had. He 
stood there when they stoned Stephen, and he 
started down to Damascus to make havoc of God's 
church. What does this former persecutor say? 
"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by 
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and 
gave himself for me." Jesus loved even that arch 
enemy. He gave himself, gave his life; made an 
offering of himself for that arch enemy, Saul of 
Tarsus. That is the way Christ treated his ene- 
mies ; if we are his disciples we will follow his ex- 
ample. 

Let us read one other passage only. Col. iii. 13: 
u Forbearing one another, and forgiving one an- 
other, if any man have a quarrel against any : even 
as Christ forgave you so also do ye. n Now, mark 
it, Christ's manner of forgiving is to be the rule of 
our manner of forgiving. How did Christ forgive ? 
Once for all, freely, heartily, fully, forever; and he 
says of our sins, " I will remember them no more." 

But I hear some man or woman saying: " Well, 
I am willing to forgive, but I will never forget. I 
can't forget it. I do n't want him to come about me. 



Forgiveness of Enemies. 165 

I don't want to have any thing to do with him. I 
will never forget. " Such forgiveness is not worth 
the time it takes to tell about it. No, Christ never 
forgave any body that way. Suppose Christ should 
bestow that sort of forgiveness on you. After a 
while you die, and you knock at the pearly gates 
and the angel comes to see who you are. He goes 
back and says, ' 1 Mr. So-and-So is at the gate and 
wants to come in. ' ' The Lord Jesus answers, c ' Yes, 
I forgave him, but I have not forgotten his iniquity. 
I don't want to see any thing of him. I don't 
want him to come about me. I shall have nothing 
to do with him." Would not that shut you out of 
heaven? How much would that sort of forgive- 
ness amount to? 

Now, Christ forgives freely. He takes us to his 
bosom and to his heart. If you do not forgive so 
freely that you are willing to let by-gones, in every 
sense of the word, be by-gones, your forgiveness is 
worth nothing. Of course you can't obliterate the 
fact or expunge the impression from your brain, 
but you can forget it so that it will not affect your 
love, or your kindness, or your good-will. That is 
what God requires of us. 

I want to read this last verse, Matt, xviii. 35 : " So 
likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, 
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his 
brother their trespasses." 



WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 



ND I will pray the Father, and he shall 



give you another Comforter, that he may 



abide with you forever; even the Spirit 
of truth, whom the world can not receive, because 
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye 
know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be 
in you." — John xiv. 16, 17. 

The topic of our Bible reading this morning is, 
"The Work of the Holy Spirit. " The work of 
the Father was to devise the plan of redemption, 
the work of the Son was to finish that plan. 
Hence, Jesus said, " It is expedient for you that I 
go away" — that is, I have now finished my work on 
earth, I will ascend up to my Father, and " if I go 
away I will send the Comforter unto you." Then 
the Holy Ghost was sent by the Father and the 
Son to take the things of Christ and show them unto 
us, to make this plan of salvation efficacious unto 
every one who will accept it, and leave every one 
without excuse who does not accept it. 

Now, we want to study the work of the Spirit 
this morning, especially in relation to God's peo- 
ple; also in relation to the unsaved. We do not 
give as much attention and study as we should to 




(166) 



The Work of the Spirit. 167 

the teachings of the Bible about the Holy Spirit. 
Perhaps we do not preach enough on this subject. 
It is a great and glorious truth that we can not be 
saved without Jesus; it is also a great and glorious 
truth that we can not be saved without the Holy 
Ghost. Jesus said, "No man can come unto me 
except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him." 
How does the Father draw men unto Christ ? He 
draws them by the Holy Ghost, and all who yield to 
his influence are brought to the Son of God; while 
all who resist and continue to reject his influence 
are left to themselves, and then they are doomed 
and damned. 

I am going to give you twelve verses of scripture, 
each one of which presents a specific work of the 
Holy Spirit. Before we proceed let us understand 
that if we are going to be honored by the Holy 
Spirit in our work for God, in our testimony for 
Christ, in our effort to win souls, we must honor 
the Holy Spirit. An intelligent pastor once said 
to Mr. Moody, "lama man, I think, of ordinary 
common sense; I have a collegiate education, and 
I have devoted myself exclusively to the work 
of the ministry. Will you please tell me why it is 
that I have not been more used by God in my 
work?" Mr. Moody answered, "I have no doubt 
the great secret of the matter is, you have not 
honored the Holy Ghost as you should have done." 
Dear friends, if we ignore God's Spirit our work 
will be lifeless and without fruit. 

The first work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of 
Christ John xv. 26: " But when the Comforter 



x68 



Bible Readings. 



is come, whom I will send unto you from the 
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth 
from the Father, he shall testify of me," Now, 
Christ came and finished the plan of redemption, 
and ascended up to his heavenly Father. The 
Holy Ghost comes, especially in this age and dis- 
pensation of the Spirit, to take the things of Christ 
and show them unto mankind, to take this atoning 
blood and apply it unto men — to make this plan of 
salvation efficacious. His great work, therefore, is 
to testify of Jesus, to testify through this written 
word. The scripture came not by the will of man, 
but holy men spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost. The work of the same Holy Ghost 
now is to testify directly to the heart and con- 
science and souls of men about the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

Here is a very vital question : Why is it so nec- 
essary for the evangelist, pastor, Sabbath-school 
teacher, or missionary — every Christian worker — 
to teach and to preach God's written word? Be- 
cause it is by such teaching that Jesus Christ is 
revealed; because it is the work of the Holy Ghost 
to testify of Jesus Christ through such teaching. 

This brings us to a very vital truth which comes 
close to me and to these pastors; it will come close 
to any man or woman who is going to be a worker 
for God. It is this : If we expect to be honored by 
the Holy Ghost in winning souls to Christ, in feed- 
ing Christ's sheep and his lambs, we must let 
scientific philosophy and speculative theories alone. 
We must let mere moral essays and rose-water dis- 



The Work of the Spirit. 169 



courses, mere dealing with ethical questions, alone. 
We must give up preaching about the last big fire 
in New York or London, and the last great effort to 
reconcile Genesis and geology. Such discourses 
are very good in their place, but their place is not 
in the pulpit if they crowd out the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. We must let these things alone. In 
order that our work may be honored by the Holy 
Ghost we must make Jesus Christ, the Son of God 
crucified on the cross, the great burden of our 
preaching. That must be the warp and the woof 
of all of our instructions. All else — science, phi- 
losophy, rhetoric and poetry — must be used merely 
as incidental things, to illustrate, and enforce some 
great central principle of gospel truth. The work 
of the Holy Ghost is to testify of Christ, he is 
therefore to co-operate with the preacher; but 
when the preacher, or the teacher, or the mission- 
ary, sets Jesus Christ aside, and substitutes science 
and poetry and rhetoric, or philosophy and ethics, 
in the place of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Ghost 
has nothing to do with him or his preaching. 
When Jesus is set aside the Holy Ghost and the 
preacher have nothing in common. 

This is a solemn truth; a fundamental principle. 
Therefore let us who are going to preach the gos- 
pel lay all of these other things aside, keep them 
in the background. Like the great apostle let us 
say from the depths of our hearts, ' 4 1 am deter- 
mined not to know any thing among you save 
Jesus Christ and him crucified." Our business is 
to hold up Christ, and when we do it in all faith- 



170 



Bible Readings. 



fulness, tenderness, love, and truth, the Holy Ghost 
will help us, will testify through us, will honor our 
message, will make us a mighty power. He will 
enable us to win souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But it takes grace to lay aside all of these things 
that are popular with the great mass of the uncon- 
verted world, and to stand up with Paul and say, 
" I am not ashamed to preach the gospel." What 
did Paul mean by that ? He meant simply that he 
was not ashamed to stand up and talk about a 
crucified Savior instead of talking about the great 
Greek philosophies, about science, and the other 
popular themes of that day. Are you ashamed to 
preach the gospel, pure and simple, the old-fash- 
ioned, straightforward, unadulterated gospel ? Are 
you ashamed to tell the old, old story of the Cross ? 
It is a great victory for a preacher when he stands 
by the cross of Christ and says, " I do not care 
what the world thinks about my rhetoric, my 
poetry, my philosophy, my science. I do not care 
what people think of me as a preacher. Let them 
call me big or little, if only they think more of 
Jesus Christ whom I preach." 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is to witness 
with us that we are God^s children. Rom. viii. 16: 
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, 
that we are the children of God." We accept 
Christ as our Savior, we accept him by faith; and 
what follows? The Spirit of God comes and bears 
witness with our spirit that we are the children 
of God. The Holy Spirit is a personality. There- 
fore, when we accept Christ and are born of God, 



The Work of the Spirit. 171 

the Holy Spirit comes and bears witness with our 
spirit that we are the sons of God. We have thus 
the testimony of an infallible witness. The Holy 
Ghost can not testify to a falsehood. When he 
bears witness in your soul that you are one of 
God's saints, what higher evidence could there be 
to settle the question? There could be no more 
infallible assurance. 

I have heard some people speak this way, and I 
know there are many Sunday-school teachers who 
have this idea: "I think it is presumptuous for 
any body to say he knows that he is a child of 
God." On the contrary, it is presumptuous for a 
man, who has the witness of the Spirit of God testi- 
fying to his spirit that he is a child of God, to say 
he does not know whether he is a Christian or not; 
or to say he does not think any body can know. It 
is a great mistake. We have two witnesses to 
assure us that we are God's children. One is the 
written word. 1 John v. 13 : " These things have 
I written to you that believe on the name of the 
Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal 
life, and that ye may believe on the name of the 
Son of God." The Spirit of God is the other wit- 
ness. He comes into our hearts, and in connection 
with that word testifies that we are God's children. 
So the regenerated man has two witnesses: the 
word of God and the Spirit of God. I get almost 
discouraged sometimes in these inquiry meetings 
when to the question, u Are you a Christian?" 
so many reply, u Well, I hope I am." Dear 
friend, settle the question and know whether you 



Bible Readings. 



are God's child or not. Never stop till you have 
the Spirit of God testifying with your spirit. 
Yours is a poor, miserable religion if you have not 
enough of it to know that you have it. It is a very 
poor passing from death unto life if you don't 
know whether you have passed or not. Now, this 
witnessing of the Spirit with our spirit that we are 
the children of God is an experience. No experi- 
ence can be explained to a man that has never 
experienced it. Therefore you can not explain this 
to the satisfaction of an unregenerated man; but to 
a regenerated man it needs no explanation. He 
has experienced it himself; he has the witness in 
himself. 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us 
into all truth. John xvi. 13: " Howbeit when he, 
the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into 
all truth : for he shall not speak of himself; but 
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : and 
he will show you things to come." The Spirit of 
truth is to guide us into all truth. What sort 
of truth ? I answer, not scientific truth. The 
Holy Ghost did not come to teach scientific truth, 
nor philosophic truth. What truth, then, does he 
teach ? Revealed truth ; the things written here in 
God's word. The Holy Ghost is the author of 
this Book, and he is also the teacher. He comes 
to guide us in our study of the deep things revealed 
in the Bible. You will hear a great many men 
say, U I read the Bible, but I don't see any thing 
in it; I don't understand it. It is all confusion to 
me." How are they reading it? How do you 



The Work of the Spirit. 173 

read your Bible ? Perhaps you are trying to unlock 
tliese great treasures with a scientific key ; or with 
a literary and critical key. You can not do it. 
These spiritual things are spiritually discerned; 
they are spiritually taught. We are to look to the 
Spirit of God for light and guidance if we would 
be led into the greatest depths and up to the 
grandest heights of God's revealed truth. 

I will give an illustration. About two years ago 
when I was holding a meeting at Charlotte, North 
Carolina, I went with Mr. Hannah one day to the 
United States Mint. We examined a great many 
interesting things; and at last we went up to the 
great vault where he had his precious metals and 
valuables stowed away. There was a combination 
lock on it, like those on some of your safes in 
banks and offices. I took hold of the lock and 
turned it and then pulled it, but it would not open. 
Then I turned it back the other way, and still it 
would not open. Why ? I did not understand the 
combination. Prof. Hannah put his hand on it 
and gave it a certain number of turns and it opened 
without difficulty. He understood the combina- 
nation. Now, here is a great vault, in which are 
stored away the precious jewels of heaven, the rich 
treasures of gold from the mines of eternal truth. 
Now, if you want to unlock the vault and enjoy 
the rich treasures, lay aside the scientific and the 
philosophic key; that is not the combination. Lay 
aside your speculative and critical methods; that is 
not the combination. Come to it under the guid- 
ance and influence and light of the Holy Ghost, 



i74 



Bible Readings. 



and then you can open the treasure house and 
bring out precious things, new and old. 

The canon of Scripture is closed. While God's 
Holy Spirit is not confined to that word, and can 
guide men independently of it as he did Philip 
when he told him to go and talk to the eunuch, 
yet let us remember this fundamental principle: 
the Holy Spirit never guides a man contrary to the 
revealed word. Whenever you see a man or 
woman laying down certain theories and preaching 
certain doctrines, and claiming to be instructed 
and taught of the Spirit, just ask, u Can you give 
us God's word to show that your course of action is 
right? Are your teachings scriptural?" If a re- 
ligious teacher can not explain and justify his 
position by the Bible, put it down that he is not led 
by God's Spirit. God can not contradict himself. 
The Holy Ghost can not lead a man in a course con- 
trary to any principle laid down in the Scriptures. 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is interceding 
for us, Rom. viii. 26: " Likewise the Spirit also 
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we 
should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
can not be uttered." I thank God for that inter- 
cessory prayer of the Lord Jesus recorded in the 
seventeenth chapter of John; and also for the fact 
that the Holy Spirit, the divine Comforter, our 
Guide, intercedes for us. 

This explains a fact that occurs in the experience 
of many Christians. Have you not sometimes for 
weeks or months been under a cloud, not enjoying 



The Work of the Spirit. 



i75 



communion with God, not enjoying the word, nor 
prayer? Who has not sometimes been thus cold 
and lukewarm . and spiritually bowed down and 
unhappy? Then all at once, some day or night, 
you scarcely knew why, the cloud suddenly seemed 
to drift away and the bright sunlight soon began 
to shine into your soul, and you felt glad and 
happy. Once more you were in sweet communion 
with your heavenly Father, and your soul rejoiced 
in God your Savior. Yet perhaps you had not 
been attending church; you had not been espe- 
cially devotional; you had not been making any 
particular efforts to secure light and joy. Has not 
that been the experience of many of you ? It has 
been mine many a time. Do you know the expla- 
nation of it? The Holy Ghost, whom the Son 
sent to enlighten and comfort his children saw you 
wandering, saw the influence that Satan or the 
world was beginning to exert upon you; and this 
blessed and divine Comforter made intercession for 
you " with groanings that can not be uttered, n and 
the Father heard and for the sake of the Son sent 
the answer. So the blessing came down upon your 
soul. I love Jesus my Savior, and I also love the 
Holy Ghost my Comforter, who is my guide and 
strength through this wilderness. He is to me 
what the pillar of cloud and fire was to the Jews 
in their wanderings. 

The Holy Spirit also comforts us. Acts ix. 31 : 
"Then had all the churches rest throughout all 
Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; 
and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the 



176 



Biblk Readings. 



comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.' ' 
Notice this vital statement: They were walking in 
the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy 
Ghost. Mark it, the comfort of the Holy Ghost 
and walking in the fear of the Lord are two things 
that go together, and if you are going to abide in 
the comfort of the Holy Ghost then you must 
walk in the fear of the Lord. You can not walk 
with the world, you can not walk in the dark, and 
have communion with him who is light. You can 
not walk after the lust of the flesh and the lust 
of the eyes and the pride of life, and have the com- 
fort of the Holy Ghost. You must walk in the 
fear of the Lord, in the commandments, or you 
can not enjoy the presence and blessing of the 
Spirit. 

Take an illustration from Scripture. David 
walked in the dark in that terrible sin with Bath- 
sheba, and what was the result? Hear his cry, 
" Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. " He 
went into the dark, and no sooner had he done that 
than he lost the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Dear 
friend, you can not live in sin, and walk as this 
world walks, and at the same time have the com- 
fort of the Spirit. 

That explains a very common thing. You hear 
a great many people say, as a great many say to 
me, u I do believe I was once converted, but I am 
no longer happy. I do not enjoy my religion. 
What is the trouble?" Ah, nine times out of ten, 
the trouble is you have not been walking in the 
light, as he is in the light; you have not been 



The Work of the Spirit. 177 

walking in the strait and narrow way; you have 
been walking around with the world, the flesh, and 
the devil. Consequently if you are a child of God 
at all you are like David; you have lost the joy of 
salvation. It is not enough to have salvation; we 
ought to go a step farther and have the joy of sal- 
vation. 

You know the Savior says, "I will not leave 
you comfortless;" literally, U I will not leave you 
orphans. " We are not left orphans. The Holy 
Spirit comes to dwell with us and to care for us 
and look after us. The children of God are not a 
lot of orphans down here on an old rocky island; 
we are the children of a King, we are marching 
through Immanuel's land. And all the way the 
Holy Spirit is our Comforter. 

Here are a father and mother quietly resting 
upon their bed at night, and a darling little one in 
the cradle close to the bed. In the dead hours of 
the night a dark storm-cloud rises, and the mutter- 
ing thunder draws nearer, and then the terrible 
flash comes, and then the rain. Directly the blinds 
slam to and fro; and the child wakes and sees the 
lightning and hears the thunder. Startled and 
afraid it begins to cry, when the father reaches out 
his hand, with the assuring word, " Be quiet; papa 
is here, mother is here; all is right. Be quiet." 
And the little one folds its hands. Its fears are 
quieted and it goes to sleep again. That is about 
the way it is with us. Here in this world of sin, 
the dark storm-clouds come, and the billows roll 
high, and very often we are sorrowful and afraid. 
12 



i 7 8 



Bible Readings. 



But the blessed Comforter, the Holy Ghost, comes 
to us, and says as in the Master's words, u Peace, 
be still. It is I; be not afraid." Then, like 
Bunyan's pilgrim, we realize that the lions are 
chained, and we walk right along between them, 
our hearts comforted and our fears gone. 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is to impart 
love. Rom. v. 5 : u And hope maketh not ashamed; 
because the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 
The love of God, that is redeeming love, God's 
eternal love, is shed abroad in our hearts when we 
are regenerated. Then we are told in the fifth 
chapter of Galatians that love is one of the fruits 
of the Spirit. The Spirit, abiding in our hearts, 
produces new love, increases our love. 

Is there any body here that has not the love he 
ought to have for his fellow-men or fellow-Chris- 
tians or for God ? What is the trouble ? You are 
not abiding in communion with Christ; therefore 
the legitimate fruits of the Holy Ghost are not 
developed in your heart and life. Any man in 
whose heart is the love of God will love every one 
else in whom is the love of God, regardless of name 
or nation or church. 

It is also the work of the Holy Spirit to impart 
hope. Rom. xv. 13: "Now the God of hope fill 
you with all joy and peace in believing that ye 
may abound in hope, through the power of the 
Holy Ghost." "The God of hope "—mark that 
— "The God of hope fill you with all peace in 
believing" You do not get hope except in believ- 



The Work of the Spirit. 179 

ing. There is little hope for that man in whom 
the Spirit has never shed abroad the love of God. 
This is a significant fact : When a man is hopeful 
he is energetic, courageous; hope is an element of 
strength. But a hopeless man settles down into 
inaction and weakness. This is true of our Chris- 
tian work. We will work or fail to work for 
God according as we abound more or less in hope 
through the Holy Ghost. Did you ever see a man 
that had no hope? He is sure that nothing can 
be done. He has no hope that any body will be con- 
verted in the meeting, that any souls will be saved; 
he don't expect to see any thing accomplished. 
What is the trouble with such persons? They 
are not abiding in communion with the Spirit. 
When our hearts are filled with the Spirit, then we 
are full of hope. Then we are active and we 
accomplish something. 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is to impart 
liberty, 2 Cor. iii. 17: Now, the Lord is that Spirit, 
and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." 
The Spirit of the Lord imparts liberty — that is, free- 
dom, unction, ease, power, in contradistinction to 
restraint and stiffness, and the mere form without 
the power. 

Let us be a little practical. There are some of 
you dear good brothers and sisters that can not talk 
to a penitent in the inquiry meeting; you can not 
open your mouth for Jesus. Some of you are so 
excessively modest you can not read a passage of 
Scripture. You can not get your mouth open and 
get out one word for Jesus. You say it is modesty. 



i8o 



Bible Readings. 



No, it is not. You think it is timidity. No, you 
are mistaken. You persuade yourself that it is em- 
barrassment, but it is not that. What is it? I will 
tell you: your heart is not filled with the Holy 
Spirit. If it was you would be like Peter and John 
when the Jewish Sanhedrim charged them straitly 
that they should not speak any more in Christ's 
name. They said, "We can not but speak the 
things of God." Why? Because "out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and 
when the heart is full of the Spirit the mouth will 
have liberty. Then we can and will talk and testify 
for Christ. 

I will give you an illustration from Scripture: 
You remember that on a certain occasion Peter was 
warming himself by the fire, and there came along 
a little maid and said, "You are one of Christ's 
disciples." How about Peter's mouth and liberty? 
All in the world he could get his mouth to say was, 
" I do n't know what you say. " Another one came, 
and all that he could say was to deny his Master. 
What was the matter with Peter? He was follow- 
ing the Master afar off. He was not in close com- 
munion and fellowship with him. A few days alter 
that we see Peter on the day of Pentecost standing 
beside that empty grave of Jesus Christ; and with 
true moral courage, and with his soul afire with zeal 
and love, he hurled into the teeth of the Jews the 
accusation that with wicked hands they had taken 
the Lord and crucified and slain him. He preached 
with such liberty and unction and power that 
three thousand souls were saved under that one 



The Work of the Spirit. 181 

sermon. We all can talk if we are full of a thing. 
We can speak for God if we are filled with God's 
Spirit. That is what we want; and one of the bless- 
ings of a gracious revival is that it gets us all — 
evangelists, pastors, church members — down off of 
our stilts, it takes away our stiffness and cold for- 
malism, and we all feel that this is God's house 
and God's work, and we are God's children. We 
are communing with one another and with our 
blessed Lord. We are workers for souls, and we 
never think of being stilted or formal or embar- 
rassed. It is God's Spirit that gives us liberty. 

Another work of the Spirit is to impart strength. 
Eph. iii. 16 : " That he would grant you, according 
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
might by his Spirit in the inner man." It is, then, 
the work of the Holy Spirit to strengthen. A soul 
u strengthened with might by the Spirit in the in- 
ner man " is the grandest power on this earth. 
That one man, Elijah, on Mount Carmel, strong in 
the Spirit's might, was more than a match for Ahab 
with four hundred and fifty false prophets and all 
Israel at his back. One man, Saul of Tarsus, filled 
with the Holy Ghost, was more than a match for 
all the philosophers at Athens, and he and a few 
others turned the world upside down. We need 
moral, spiritual strength; strength imparted by the 
Spirit in the inner man. 

An illustration from the Bible will show you 
what a power a man is when strengthened by the 
Holy Ghost, and how much greater power he has 
than all other men without this divine endowment. 



182 



Bible Readings. 



Here is Saul of Tarsus. He made many missionary 
journeys and planted many churches. Suppose he 
is going to start on one of his missionary tours. 
" Where are you going, Paul?" "I am going to 
Antioch, or Philippi, or Corinth, or Athens, or 
Rome." "What are you going to do there?" 
1 1 Preach the gospel and plant the church in that 
town." u Who is going to entertain you?" "I 
don't know whether I shall be entertained or not; 
I maybe put in jail." "Who is going to pay your 
way?" "I don't know." "Who is backing 
you?" "Nobody but God Almighty." "Who 
are you depending on ? " " Nobody but the Lord." 
"What great missionary board stands behind you?" 
"None at all." We see that man go forth, in some 
places only the Lord standing with him; we see 
him enter these heathen cities, preach the gospel, 
win souls and plant churches, all without the help 
of mortal man. What is the explanation ? He was 
strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the 
inner man. 

Understand me: I would not put church organ- 
izations and missionary boards at any discount. 
These are all right and proper in their place; we 
need them, and can not get along without them; 
but I am simply showing that there is a power bet- 
ter and higher than these. That power is God's 
Spirit, strengthening us with might in the inner 
man. 

We learn also that the Holy Spirit convinces of 
sin. John xvi. 8: "And when he is come he will 
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and 



The Work of the Spirit 183 

of judgment." That is, the Holy Ghost comes to 
reprove, to convince the world — the unsaved, unre- 
generate part of mankind. He will convince them 
of sin. It is right to preach, it is right to use ar- 
gument and logic, it is right to talk and exhort 
and sing. But there is but one power in the uni- 
verse that can bring conviction to the heart of a 
guilty sinner, and that is the Holy Ghost. We can 
convince the man's judgment; we can show him 
from God's word that, unless he repents, he is go- 
ing to hell ; all sinners can see that. But the Holy 
Ghost must give that deep conviction of sin that 
makes the sinner cry from the depths of his soul, 
" What shall I do to be saved?" that causes him to 
turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then let us preach, 
read, talk, pray; but let us remember that the power 
comes from the Holy Ghost, and ask him to im- 
part to these unsaved souls genuine conviction of 
sin. 

Another work of the Holy Spirit is to invite sin- * 
ners to come. Rev. xxii. 17: u And the Spirit and 
the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And 
whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." I believe in verbal inspiration. Notice 
the phraseology: u The Spirit and the bride say, 
Come." Not the Spirit or the bride, but u the 
Spirit and the bride. n The Holy Ghost invites 
men to come to Christ; but, mark you, while he 
can work in other ways, it is God's revealed plan 
that the Spirit shall work in and through the 
church. The church of God and the Spirit of God 



Bible Readings. 



are to work in conjunction; together they are to 
say to dying sinners, "Come, come to Christ" 
But about nine tenths of you dear church people 
want the pastors and evangelists and a few workers 
to say, Come, while you sit here in the inquiry 
meeting and look on, and never open your mouth. 
God commands you, in connection with that Holy 
Spirit, to say, "Come." The Bible does not say r 
u Pray come." You ought to pray that men may 
come, but you are to do something in addition to 
your prayers. You are to go to the dying man and 
say, Come. You are praying for your children — a 
little now and then — but did you ever say to your 
child, Come? "I can't talk to my children, " says 
somebody. If you can not I am afraid it is because 
you do not live right before your children. That 
is generally the difficulty in such cases. 

Finally, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to Jill 
its with himself. Eph. v. 18: "And be not drunk 
with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the 
Spirit." I think there is a great deal of miscon- 
ception as to what is meant by being filled with the 
Spirit. Let us now get a clear-cut conception. Is 
not the Holy Spirit a personality? Yes. If you 
have the Holy Spirit then you have a personality. 
It is not first a part of a personality, and then more 
of a personality, and afterward still more. That is 
not the teaching of the Bible, but it is the idea of 
a great many people. Now, if the Holy Spirit is a 
personality, when you have the Spirit at all you 
have his personality. What do you mean, then, by 
being filled with the Holy Spirit? The Bible idea 



The Work of the Spirit. 185 

is not that you get more and more of this person- 
ality, but, if I may turn the figure around the other 
way, it is that this personality gets more and more 
of you; gets fuller and fuller possession, and more 
and more complete control of you. That is the 
true meaning of being filled with the Spirit. The 
moment a man is born of God, the Spirit of God 
takes up his abode in the heart, the Holy Ghost, the 
personality, is present. 

Then what is the business of the Christian life ? 
It is not to get more of that Spirit, but to give more 
of self to the Spirit. Notice this phraseology, tc Be 
not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be ye 
filled with the Spirit." There is a wonderful anal- 
ogy suggested in these words. Here is a man who 
drinks wine. I do not know how much it will take 
to make him drunk; let us say a quart, for the sake 
of illustration. A man takes a quart of wine into 
his stomach. He has swallowed the whole quart. 
But wait an hour, and you will see that it is not all 
confined to his stomach; it has been taken up by 
the circulation. Some of it is in his brain, and 
some in his feet, and some in his hands; it perme- 
ates his entire system. There is no more wine in 
him an hour after he drank it than there was the 
moment he swallowed it, but the wine has got more 
complete possession of his entire physical being; 
he is filled with it now. He had it all in him at 
the beginning, but he is now filled with it as he was 
not at first. Now, says the Bible, do not do that, 
but be filled with the Spirit. 

On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were 



i86 



Bible Readings. 



filled with the Spirit, the multitude thought they 
were drunk with new wine. When a man is born 
of God the personality of the Holy Ghost enters 
his soul. Let him, day by day and year by year, 
subordinate his mind, heart, affections, desires, in- 
clinations, his entire being, to the influence of the 
Holy Ghost, until his heart beats in unison with 
God's heart, and his will is swallowed up in the di- 
vine will; until his plans are God's plans; until at 
last heart and brain and soul and body are all under 
the influence and guidance and control of the Holy 
Spirit. This is what is meant by being filled with 
the Spirit. 

May I give you just one other illustration ? Did 
you ever build a new house and move into it? 
When I built my little house in Asheville, N. C. — 
the first house I ever had of my own — as soon as 
one room was finished I was so eager to get into my 
own home that I moved into that room. They went 
on getting another room ready, and when it was fin- 
ished I moved some of the household goods into it; 
and when the four or five rooms were all finished I 
moved some of the things into every one — some 
into the little hall, some down into the basement, 
and some up into the attic. By the time I left home 
in the fall I had the house completely occupied from 
attic to basement. I was in the house the first day, 
but I did not have possession of all of it. So the 
Holy Ghost came into your heart when you were 
born of God. Give him that chamber, and another, 
and another. Take something out that stands in 
his way. Let the Holy Ghost get possession. Give 



The Work of the Spirit. 187 

him possession of every chamber and hallway and 
closet in head, heart, and soul. L,et all be his from 
cellar to garret. Be filled with the Holy Ghost. 
That is what the blessed Spirit, the Comforter, 
wants — to dwell in every affection of our souls, in 
every aspiration of our lives. When we are thus 
filled with all the fullness of God we will have our 
fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 



The Shepherd and the Sheep, 

THE topic of our expository Bible reading this 
morning is the Shepherd, the Sheepfold, and 
the Sheep. Instead of taking one verse, or a 
number of verses scattered here and there, for a 
text, let us take the first thirty verses of the tenth 
chapter of John as the subject for a running expo- 
sition or expository reading. I will read the first 
verse, and the congregation will read in concert the 
second, I the third, and the congregation the fourth, 
and so on through the thirtieth verse. The whole 
thirty verses form the text for the Bible reading. 

I suppose all who love the Scriptures at all love 
some part especially. It is so with me. I love the 
whole Bible, but there are some parts of it more 
precious than other parts; some parts that I spe- 
cially love. For instance, I very much love the 
third chapter of John, and the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
and seventeenth chapters of John; I find special 
sweetness and comfort in the thirteenth chapter of 
First Corinthians, and the twenty-third Psalm. But 
I believe if I had to give up all the Bible except 
one chapter, I would hold on to the very last to this 
tenth chapter of John. To my own heart I find no 
chapter in God's word more sweet, more consoling, 
more encouraging, because there are in it, besides 
(188) 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 189 

a great many other blessed truths, so many precious 
things about Jesus. God's word all the way along 
is full of Jesus. In the Old Testament and in the 
New it is Jesus. The difference between Christ in 
the Old and Christ in the New Testament is about 
this : In the Old Testament he is presented as the 
rose of Sharon in the bud, and in the New Testa- 
ment as the same rose of Sharon in full bloom. 
I am sorry for that person, and especially for that 
professor of faith in Christ, who reads the Old Testa- 
ment and does not find Jesus in every thing. Christ 
is in the brazen serpent, in the smitten rock, in the 
paschal lamb, in the turtle dove — in every thing all 
through the books of Moses and the historical books, 
in the Psalms and Proverbs and prophecies. Jesus 
is there in types. Not only that, but God's word 
is a kind of celestial kaleidoscope. Every time 
the kaleidoscope is turned around it presents Jesus, 
but each time from a different point of view — Jesus 
in a different light. Sometimes he is presented as 
the plant of renown, sometimes as the paschal lamb, 
sometimes as the morning star, sometimes as the 
great foundation-stone, and sometimes as the sun of 
righteousness ; and each one of these figures teaches 
some great truth concerning his character or work. 

But here in the chapter we have read this morn- 
ing we have Christ presented as the Shepherd. Of 
all the figures in the Bible I know of none that is 
fuller of precious suggestions than this one. If you 
will just take God's word and a good concordance 
and look up every passage that has the word i ' shep- 
herd ' ' in it, and study the Scripture in connection 



Bible Readings. 



with Christ as a shepherd, it will not be long till 
your heart will be warm, your soul glad, and your 
faith strong. You will feel in deed and in truth 
that Jesus is what he claims to be, a good Shepherd. 

There are a great many things we might say 
about Christ as a shepherd, but there are just three 
thoughts on this part of the subject before us that 
I want especially to present : Christ as a good shep- 
herd, Christ as the great shepherd, and Christ as 
the chief shepherd. The word of God presents him 
in each one of those phases. Here in John x. n 
Jesus says, U I am the good shepherd." Why is 
Christ the good shepherd? The reason is given in 
that same verse: "I am the good shepherd; the 
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. ' ' The 
hireling may flee when the wolf comes, when dan- 
ger arises, in the hour of persecution ; but the good 
shepherd, Jesus Christ, who loves us, will suffer no 
danger, no persecution, no poverty, trial or afflic- 
tion to turn him aside from seeking our welfare and 
salvation. He laid down his life for his sheep; we 
are told in God's own word that Christ bore our 
sins in his own body on the tree. 

Now, what is the conclusion we ought to draw 
from the fact that the good shepherd gave his life 
for us — mark it, his life ? Here is the conclusion 
that I reach : If he gave his life for me, even when 
I was dead in trespasses and in sins, he will take 
care of me now after I have come to him and given 
him my heart and laid my hand in his; after I have 
taken him at his word and reposed my heart's con- 
fidence in him and in his promises. Will he not 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 191 

now feed me? Will lie not now give me every 
blessing that I need? Yes, I believe that he will. 
Hence, I joyfully accept that wonderful statement 
in God's blessed word : u But my God shall supply 
all of our need according to his riches in glory by 
Christ Jesus. ' ' 

One of the suggestions of the devil is to doubt 
the Lord Jesus Christ, to doubt his love, his grace, 
his care, his goodness; to fear that he will not pre- 
serve you and keep you. Ah, Satan, I can not, I 
will not, believe you. My Master not only gave up 
the treasures, honors, and glories of heaven, but he 
came down here and was willing to be reproached, 
persecuted, maligned, slandered; willing to live a 
life of poverty and to die an ignominious death on 
the cross. Since he thus died for me there is noth- 
ing that he will withhold from me; I will trust him 
though he slay me. 

You will find another reason why Christ is a 
good shepherd in this same chapter. He says, "I 
know my sheep. ' ' That is an important character- 
istic of a good shepherd, to know his sheep. Christ 
knows by name them that belong to him. He 
knows their voice when they cry to him; he knows 
their temptations, their trials, their persecutions; 
he knows how weary their feet grow, how heavy 
the burden is, and he knows just how much they 
can endure, and he will not suffer them to be 
tempted above that they are able to bear. He will 
not suffer the old lion of hell, that goes about seek- 
ing whom he may devour, to destroy one of his 
sheep. If one yields to the influence of the devil 



192 



Bible Readings. 



it is not because he could not resist; but, as James 
says, it is because he was enticed and drawn away 
of his own lust. You yourself are responsible if 
you have yielded to the insinuations of the evil 
one. But Jesus our shepherd knows how to give 
out strength and grace and encouragement and help 
to his weary, tempted ones. The world does not 
know us; all of God's children are simply sinners 
saved by grace. Though our hearts have been re- 
generated, though we are children of God we are 
still in the body, and this old fallen, sinful, wicked 
flesh will be sinful until we drop it in the grave. It 
will always be a fulcrum upon which the devil can 
use his lever while he tries to betray the soul into 
sin; and because he does that the world misunder- 
stands us, misjudges us, and often says we are hypo- 
crites when God knows that in our hearts we are 
not. Jesus knows us, and if our hearts are true to 
him, if in our hearts we love him, he will not mis- 
understand us; he will still love and help us. Peter 
could say, u L,ord, thou knowest all things; thou 
knowest that I love thee," which was as much as 
to say, " Master, I know I have disgraced myself; 
I am a hot-headed, impetuous, foolish, overconfi- 
dent disciple. I acknowledge all; the devil has 
taken me at unawares. I have denied thee, but, 
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." Our Master 
did not say nay, to Peter, but he said, * ' Feed my 
sheep; feed my lambs." And Jesus knows us; he 
looks at the secret things in our hearts; he judges 
not as man judges, and he never misjudges, he 
never misunderstands us. Hence that wonderful 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 193 

statement, ' ( To his own master he standeth or fall- 
eth." Let us, then, have hearts right in God's 
sight. 

Another reason why Jesus is a good shepherd is 
because he provides for his sheep. Let us refer 
just for a moment to the twenty- third Psalm, and 
hear what David, under the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost, says about Jesus: u The Lord is my shep- 
herd" — the infinite Almighty God can provide for 
me — ' 1 1 shall not want. ' ' We may lack some thi ngs 
that the flesh desires, but if we are God's sheep, 
following our shepherd in fear and love, we shall 
not want any real blessing, any spiritual good, for 
God says that he will give grace and glory, and " no 
good thing will he withhold from them that walk 
uprightly. " " He maketh me to lie down in green 
pastures" — that is, in the green pastures of God's 
word, in fields where we feed upon the hidden 
manna that comes down from God's hand, about 
which the devil's goats know nothing. Not only 
that — he leads us beside the still waters, the still 
waters of salvation, that river the streams whereof 
make glad the city of God. 

What else? " He leadeth me in paths of right- 
eousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy 
staff, they comfort me." Now, the common idea 
about that verse is that the Psalmist is talking 
about a Christian going down through death. But 
simple death is not meant. The idea is this: 
according to the imagery that underlies this script- 

*3 



i 9 4 



Bible; Readings. 



ure, our journey from the cradle to the grave, and 
not simply the last step in the journey, is through 
a valley, the valley of the shadow of death, and all 
the way the rod and the staff of our Shepherd com- 
fort us. Every day we are in the shadow of the 
grave-yard and of the tombstone — our life's journey 
is a journey through the valley of the shadow of 
death; and at every step our Shepherd watches 
over us and comforts us. The verse that follows 
shows that I am correct in this interpretation: 
' ' Thou preparest a table before me in the presence 
of mine enemies " — the man is not dying but feast- 
ing. 1 ' Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
all the days of my life" — the man is still living, 
going on through this valley and all the way along 
is Jesus following him with blessings. "And I 
will dwell in the house of the L,ord forever. " It is 
not only our privilege, when we come to die, to 
lean like Jacob upon our staff, but we are sup- 
ported by it all the way along our journey, receiv- 
ing, every clay, life and comfort and strength. 

Again, Christ as our shepherd holds us with his 
own hand and leads us along gently. Did you 
notice the verse that says, u No man can pluck 
them out of my Father's hand? " What does that 
mean ? He who holds the seven stars in his hand 
holds his sheep also. Will you come and lay your 
hand in the hand of Jesus and let him hold it, let 
him keep you and lead you? Suppose a man is 
going across Main street with his little son four or 
five years old. The drays, the wagons, the car- 
riages, the buggies, and the street-cars are dashing 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 195 

up and down. The father says, 1 1 My son, put 
your hand in mine," and he takes hold of the 
child's hand and they cross the street in safety. 
The little fellow may stumble, he may make mis- 
steps, his feet may slip up, but that father is going to 
hold on to his child. It is so with Christ and the 
soul that clings to him. I am a poor sinner; and I 
am nothing; and the devil can trip me up a dozen 
times a day; he has a great deal more sense and 
wisdom and shrewdness and experience than I 
have; and he does trip me up, and he sets snares 
and I am often caught in them. But my hand is 
in my Savior's, and I look to him and trust him to 
keep me. I can't keep myself, but Jesus prayed, 
4 ' Holy Father, keep through thine own name 
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be 
one as we are." 

Next, let us look at Christ as the great shep- 
herd. Do you know why he is called the great 
shepherd? If you will turn to Hebrews xiii. 20 
you will find these words: u Now the God of 
peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord 
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through 
the blood of the everlasting covenant." Why is 
Jesus called the great shepherd ? Because he rose 
from the dead. Hear what he says, 4 4 1 lay down 
my life for the sheep. No man taketh it from me, 
but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay 
it down, and I have power to take it again. ' ' This 
is a source of encouragement to us. If our spirit- 
ual shepherd could die on the cross, then lie in 
that cold and silent grave, and then, chaining death 



196 



Bible: Readings. 



to his chariot wheels, rise triumphant above the 
stars, and ascend up to his Father, there are not 
devils enough in hell, nor powers enough in the 
grave, to keep one of God's saints there. They 
that are Christ's, says God, u shall rise at his 
coming;" yes, rise as he did. Death could not 
hold our great Shepherd, and since he could con- 
quer death, hell, and the grave for himself and his 
own body, he can conquer them for us and for our 
bodies. Hence, the disciples preached Christ and 
the resurrection. 

Christ is also called the chief shepherd. 1 Peter 
v. 4: "And when the chief shepherd shall appear, 
ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not 
away." Why is he called the chief shepherd? 
Because he is going to appear. Now in Hebrews 
ix. 28, we learn that 1 1 Christ was once offered to 
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for 
him shall he appear the second time without sin 
unto salvation." The good shepherd appeared the 
first time to die for the sheep; he then rose from 
the dead for their justification; and now when all 
things are ready, and when that upper and better 
sheep-fold is finished, the chief shepherd shall 
appear. The angels said in Acts i. 11: "This 
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
seen him go into heaven." He shall appear again 
to gather up his living saints and translate them, 
and to raise the bodies of the sleeping dead, when 
together with them we shall be caught up to meet 
the lyord in the air. Read 1 Thess. iv. 16: u For 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 197 

the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with 
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 
the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall 
rise first: Then w r e which are alive and remain 
shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall 
we ever be with the Lord. ' ' 

When that good Shepherd shall come, those little 
lambs of his that are sleeping out yonder in the 
lonely grave-yards, shall be removed from their 
tombs and shall be brought forth glorified and 
immortalized; and every one of God's dear saints, 
every one of his sheep, sleeping in every obscure 
place, shall be taken up to be with him. It may 
be a missionary in far away Asia, or Africa, Henry 
Martyn, perhaps; or it may be some soldier boy 
lying out yonder in that neglected grave over- 
grown with briars and weeds and with no tomb- 
stone to mark the resting place; but in either case 
Jesus knows where sleeps the body of his saint. 
As Michael guarded the body of Moses, so the 
Lord will have some angel to guard our bodies and 
to keep them till in that morning the good Shep- 
herd shall gather them all up. Then he will go 
before and lead his sheep up those evergreen 
mountains of God into that better Eden — to those 
green fields where the frosts of sin shall never come, 
and where the lion or wolf shall never enter, and 
where all God's people will spend a blissful eternity 
with the great Shepherd. 

So much for Christ as the shepherd; now I want 
to say a few words about the sheep-fold. Christ 



Bible Readings. 



says, " I am the door; by me if any man enter in M 
— that is, into the sheep-fold — "he shall be saved, 
and shall go in and out and find pasture." Again 
he says, 4 4 1 say unto you he that entereth not by 
the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some 
other way, the same is a thief and a robber. " 
What do you mean by the sheep-fold ? I mean the 
visible organization of Christians, God's church on 
earth. It is not so much whether you are in that 
fold, as it is how did you get there ? Did you come 
in by the door of Jesus Christ, the blood of sprink- 
ling, and the washing of regeneration? If so, I 
bid you God-speed; you are a sheep. Did you 
climb up some other way? Then Jesus Christ 
says that you are a thief and a robber. Suppose a 
man has a flock of sheep and a sheep-fold and a 
high fence all around it. Another man near by 
has a flock of goats. A tall tree on the outside of 
the sheep-fold, but close beside the fence, is blown 
down and falls across the fence. You know the 
climbing propensity of a goat. Well, here are the 
goats on the outside, and one of them, mischievous 
and curious, walks up the log, till he reaches the 
top of the fence, and then down into the fold. Now, 
where is he? He is in the sheep-fold. What is 
he? He is a goat; walking a log will not change 
a goat into a sheep. He is in the sheep-fold, but 
he is not a sheep; he is a goat and nothing else. 

You belong to the church, and perhaps you 
make a good deal of parade about it. You say a 
great deal about it. How did you get into the 
church? Did you come in by the door, Jesus 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 199 

Christ ? Did you come in by the blood of sprink- 
ling, by the washing of regeneration, and the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost? u No, no;" some 
one answers; "I don't know any thing about 
that. ' ' My dear friend, if you do not, if you did 
not come in that way, what are you ? Let me tell 
you the plain, naked truth : You are simply one 
of the devil's goats among God's sheep. To come 
into God's sheep-fold in some other way than 
through the atoning and transforming blood of 
Jesus Christ will no more change such a goat 
into one of God's sheep than the walking 
of a literal log into an actual sheep-fold will 
change a literal, actual goat into a sheep. Jesus 
Christ speaks of those who do not belong to him 
as goats. When he shall judge the nations we are 
told in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew that 
he will place the u sheep" upon the right and the 
" goats" upon the left. So the Scriptures justify 
us in designating sinners as the devil's goats. 

Are you a sheep or a goat? Have you been born 
of God, or not ? It will do you no good to be in 
God's church unless yon are one of God's sheep. 
It will benefit neither you nor the church. It does 
that goat no good to come over into the sheep-fold; 
nor does his coming do the sheep any good. Very 
often it does the sheep much harm. I want to 
show you how a church and its members may be 
harmed by an unsaved sinner getting into the 
Lord's flock. Here is this goat, he comes over 
into the sheep-fold, and takes up his abode with the 
sheep. He grows familiar with some of them, and 



200 



Bible Readings. 



cultivates their acquaintance until they become 
very much attached to him. This goat is one of 
the leaders among the goats outside; and when he 
starts forth to enjoy the society of his friends we 
will see two or three of those admiring sheep com- 
ing after him. 4 4 Where are you going ? " 4 4 1 am 
going outside with this goat. I am going out to 
get into society y "What sort of society?' 5 
u Goat society." Here is a sheep following a goat 
to get into goat society. Now such society may be 
very good for goats, but it is not good for sheep. 
So sinners get into the church of God; they stay 
a little while, but soon find the Christian's manna 
very dry bread. They find the green pastures very 
poor picking. But they form intimate attachments 
with some of God's flock. And when they start 
out again into the world with all of its fascinations 
and worldly-mindedness, and dissipation, as such 
unregenerated church members are sure to do, 
some Christians will follow them. 4 4 Where are you 
going ? " 4 4 1 am going to get into society.' ' 4 4 What 
sort of society?" 44 This sinner society: this fash- 
ionable, unregenerate society." That may be very 
nice society for the devil's goats, but it is very poor 
society for God's saints. While I live in this world, 
and when I go hence, I want to enjoy the society 
of the pure and the holy, the regenerated and the 
sanctified. What the world calls its 4 4 society" has 
little good and much evil in it. Dear church 
members, do not go off with the devil's goats for 
the sake of getting into society. If you do you 
will be led astray; you will get into trouble. 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 201 



Let us now speak of the sheep aside from the 
fold. Proneness to go astray is a peculiarity about 
a sheep, and when he does go astray he has less 
sense about coming home than any other animal. 
My father had on his farm all kinds of stock, in- 
cluding sheep and goats too. I learned about them 
all, for it was my business to look after the sheep. 
If horses or cows went astray they would often 
come back. Even a hog would go and come back. 
But when the sheep got astray they seemed to lose 
all their sense. They would get into a swamp and 
wander farther and farther from home, never return- 
ing until sought out and brought back by the shep- 
herd. This is a picture of our proneness to wan- 
der away from God. What the Bible says in the 
fifty- third chapter of Isaiah is true: "All we like 
sheep have gone astray." It is natural for us to go 
astray. The old flesh is in us, and the deviPs goats 
are among us, and there are so many attractions to 
our fallen nature that very often we are led into the 
paths of sin. But the good shepherd follows after 
us, and he is going to bring us back. He may have 
to deal severely with us sometimes, but he will leave 
the ninety and nine until he finds the one that is 
lost. 

Several years ago, one cold, rainy day in Febru- 
ary, I was traveling in North Missouri, between 
Kansas City and St. Louis. Over on a hill I no- 
ticed a sheep-cot, and a flock of sheep within the 
fold. Some distance away was one old sheep and 
a little lamb. I saw the shepherd go to them and 
take the little lamb up in his arms. As he walked 



202 



Bible; Readings. 



toward the sheep-cot the little lamb would bleat 
and the old sheep kept following and was thus led 
gently back into the fold. How often God's sheep 
go astray and take the little lambs with them. 
Fathers and mothers, you can not wander into sin- 
ful ways without leading your children with you. 
If you don't love these lambs Jesus does, and if 
you persist in leading them astray he may take 
them away from you. Here are some Christian 
fathers and mothers, God's children, who have gone 
off with the devil's goats, who have wandered away 
on the cold, dark mountains. The good Shepherd 
comes to them and takes their little lamb into his 
arms and carries it up into that blessed home on 
high, because the lamb was being led astray, and 
also in order that the parents may be brought back 
to the fold. As the sheep was brought back by fol- 
lowing the little lamb, so many a straying Christian 
has been turned heavenward again because of the 
little child that Christ took to heaven. Does it not 
make your heart feel a greater longing for heaven 
to know that those little feet are now walking the 
streets of gold with the multitude of other little 
ones that Christ has taken to his arms? The good 
Shepherd will take care of these little lambs. They 
are watching and waiting for you to come back to 
the fold. Dear children of God, follow the steps of 
your good Shepherd. Keep your little lambs under 
his tender care. Bring them up in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. 

I read these words of the Lord Jesus about the 
good shepherd and his sheep: " He calleth his own 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 203 

sheep by name, and leadeth them out, .... and 
the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And 
a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from 
him; for they know not the voice of strangers.' 7 
That scripture used to puzzle me a great deal. 
When I read it, and then saw a man or a woman 
that I believed was converted, one in whom I had 
seen evidences of genuine repentance, going con- 
trary to the teachings of Christ, and sometimes fol- 
lowing a voice that I knew was not the Shepherd's 
voice, I could not reconcile the two things. But I 
understand it better now. 

Several years ago I read an article, I think in the 
Sunday-School Times, which told about an Amer- 
ican traveler in the Holy Land, who stopped to 
rest one day under the shade of the trees near a 
cool spring, where there was a trough always full 
of water. He had not been there long before a 
shepherd came to water his sheep. Another flock 
came up also, and mixed up with the first flock. 
Then a third shepherd came, and his sheep ran in, 
mixing up with those that came before. The 
traveler then asked, "How in the world are you 
ever going to separate the sheep ?" One of the 
shepherds answered, "I have a peculiar way of call- 
ing my sheep; they know my call. Every sheep 
in my flock will follow me." Then he went out 
and called, and every sheep that belonged to his 
flock separated itself from the others. Then the 
second man went out and gave the peculiar call 
that his sheep knew, and they followed him. Then 
the traveler said to the third shepherd, 1 ' I believe 



204 



Bible Readings. 



your sheep will follow me," "Try it," said the 
shepherd. So the traveler put on the shepherd's 
cloak and took his crook and tried to imitate the 
shepherd's call, but the sheep went on nibbling the 
grass and drinking the water and did not notice 
him. Then he said to the shepherd, "I don't be- 
lieve they will notice you." But when the shep- 
herd made his call immediately the whole flock fol- 
lowed him. Then the traveler asked, "Is it a fact 
that they always will follow their shepherd, and 
never follow any body else?" "I will tell you 
how that is, ' ' answered the shepherd. ( 'As long as 
the sheep is perfectly healthy, perfectly free from 
the foot and mouth disease, he will always follow 
his own shepherd and nobody else. But the mo- 
ment a sheep gets sick he will follow any body that 
will call him." 

When I read that I said, "This solves my diffi- 
culty." When I see people, who I had reason to 
believe were once converted, going to a dance, I 
know they are sick sheep — they have the foot dis- 
ease. When I see these church members going into 
the saloons, drinking whisky, I understand that 
they are sick sheep; they are sorely afflicted with 
the mouth disease. Just as long as one of God's 
sheep, feeding in these green pastures, beside these 
still waters, and following his shepherd, keeps his 
soul in a healthy, live, vigorous state, he does not 
want to follow any body but Jesus. He is not go- 
ing to follow any body but the good Shepherd. But 
let him get a little sick, let him contract the mouth 
disease, and he is ready to follow any one into the 



The Shepherd and the Sheep. 205 

bar-room ; or let a dancing master come along, and 
every sheep in town with the foot disease will be 
led away. Let 11s be healthy, sound, vigorous 
sheep. Let us grow in grace and strength, so as 
not to be led astray by every sinner that entices us. 

One final thought : Jesus says there shall be one 
fold and one shepherd. There seem to be two folds 
in this sense : there is a Jewish fold and there is a 
Gentile fold, Then there are two folds also in this 
sense : part of the sheep are on one side of the river 
and part on the other. But when that chief Shep- 
herd shall appear he will gather up all of the sheep 
out of this lost, ruined world. He will gather up 
every stray one that has gone out in the cold, dark 
mountains. All will be gathered up yonder into 
that fold of which he said, "I go to prepare a place 
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I 
will come again and receive you unto myself, that 
where I am there ye maybe also." Then there 
shall be one fold and one Shepherd. 



CONFESSION. 



ANIEL ix. 4: u And I prayed unto the Lord 



my God, and made my confession, and said, 



O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping 
the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and 
to them that keep his commandments. We have 
sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done 
wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing 
from thy precepts and from thy judgments." I 
would be glad if, at your leisure, you would read 
the ninth chapter of Daniel through the twenty- 
third verse. I call your attention now to the fourth 
verse, and especially to the two words, u My con- 
fession." Confession is the subject of our Bible 
reading this morning. I want to give vou a num- 
ber of Scripture verses bearing on this theme. 
These verses will show you what God says about 
confession of sins, about confessing Jesus, about the 
confession of sins and of faults by believers, about 
Christ's confession of his people, and the unsaved 
sinner's final confession of Jesus. 

Do you know that to confess a wrong or a sin is 
one of the hardest things for human nature to do? 
It takes a man with some force of character to come 
out squarely and say, "I was wrong, I was to 
blame. " It is one of the most difficult things in 




(206) 



Confession. 



207 



this world to get the proud, stubborn human heart 
up to that point. Hence the great difficulty in get- 
ting sinners to confess their sins. This has been 
true in all ages. It is true of men everywhere. 
Did you ever go through a penitentiary and talk 
with the inmates? Did you ever catechise them as 
to why they were in prison? I have visited a great 
many penitentiaries. They afford excellent oppor- 
tunities for the study of human nature. I have 
asked convicts about the crimes for which they 
were sentenced, and I have heard many questions 
asked them by others. Do you know that there is 
not one man in a hundred in the peniteniary that 
will confess frankly that he is guilty, and deserv- 
ing of punishment? To the question, "What did 
they put you in here for?" various answers are 
given. One says, "Some man swore a lie on me;" 
another, "They caught the wrong man;" still an- 
other, "The jury was bribed." I heard of one 
poor old colored man who, when the question was 
put to him, ( ' What did they put you in here for, 
uncle?" answered, "Boss, I fotched up the wrong 
cow." He didn't steal a cow; he didn't mean to 
steal a cow; he just "fotched up" the wrong one. 
A curious sort of accidental thing. That old negro 
was a descendant of Adam, akin to all of us. 

When God asked Eve about her sin did she con- 
fess it? No; she tried to put it off on the devil. 
"The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat," as much 
as to say, i ' 1 did n't intend to do any thing wrong. ' ' 
Adam, instead of coming out like a man and con- 
fessing his sin to God, said, " The woman whom 



208 



Bible Readings. 



thou gavest to be with me 5 she gave me of the tree 
and I did eat;" as much as to say, "I have not 
done any thing wrong; I have not committed any 
sin; it was that woman's fault." So it was with 
Adam and Eve; so it is even down to this day. Men 
are not willing to come out before God and man 
and make an honest, frank confession of their guilt. 

Now, let us hear what God says about confessing 
our sins. Num. v. 6, 7: " Speak unto the children 
of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any 
sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the 
Lord, and that person be guilty, then they shall 
confess their sin which they have done; and he 
shall recompense his trespass with the principal 
thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and 
give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed." 
There is the unequivocal, unmistakable, emphatic 
requirement of God, without any exceptions or 
conditions. "If a man or woman commit a sin," 
God says he or she shall confess that sin. Now, 
dear dying man, you have sinned, and you know it, 
and God knows it. God requires that you confess 
your sin. Are you willing to do it? 

What is a confession of sins? It is, so to speak, 
coming and laying them before God, and saying, 
4 ' O God, here they are, these abominable sins which 
I have committed. I confess them; I am guilty. 
O God, forgive." That is confession; it is uncov- 
ering, laying bare the sin before God. Now, what 
will God do with your sins when you confess them, 
when you repent of them, and put your faith in 
Jesus Christ? He says: "I will cover them up in 



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209 



the depths of the sea; I will cast them behind my 
back; I will remove them as far from you as the 
east is from the west; I will remember them against 
you no more. ' ' It is a wise thing, then, to come 
and make an honest confession to Almighty God 
and have your sins wiped out. 

What is a refusal to confess sins ? It is adding a 
lie to the transgression; it is trying to say you have 
nothing to confess; it is covering up your sins. It 
is illustrated by the conduct of Achan when he had 
violated God's commandment and stolen a wedge 
of gold and a Babylonish garment. He went and 
dug a hole in his tent and there buried his gold and 
his garment, thus refusing to confess, and trying to 
cover up his sin. Did God Almighty uncover it? 
Did he not trace the sin right to Achan' s door in 
spite of his refusal to confess it ? Dear friend, you 
can no more hide your sins from God, you can no 
more cover them up, than Achan could. Those 
midnight deeds of yours, those dark, secret sins, 
you may refuse to confess them here, but God has 
his eye on you, and so certain as you cover them 
up God will uncover them to your confusion and 
to your eternal ruin. Will you come, like an hon- 
est man, and confess to God and cast yourself upon 
his mercy and be forgiven; or will you, Achan- 
like, cover up your sins to have God uncover them 
and expose them and damn your soul because of 
them ? That is the issue that meets you this morn- 
ing face to face. 

Now, I want to give you two separate incidents 
from God's word; precedents that illustrate the wis- 
14 



2IO 



Bible Readings. 



dom of confessing our sins, and also the folly of 
denying or concealing them. Luke xviii. 13, 14: 
u And the publican, standing afar off, would not 
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote 
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a 
sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house 
justified rather than the other; for every one that 
exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that hum- 
ble tli himself shall be exalted. n Here were two 
men that went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee 
and a publican. The Pharisee stood and thanked 
God that he did not do this and that and the other, 
and he thanked God that he was not like other men, 
especially that he was not like this poor, miserable 
publican. There was not one scintilla of a confes- 
sion in any thing he said or did. He went down 
from God's house the same proud, self-righteous, 
non-confessing, guilty, condemned Pharisee that he 
had been before. He received no blessing, no par- 
don, no justification. How was it with the other 
man, the publican? Hear what he says : " God, be 
merciful to me, a sinner" This was as much as 
to say, u O God, here are my sins; I am guilty; 
have mercy upon me, a guilty, confessing sinner." 
God did have mercy; he heard this penitent prayer, 
and "this man went down to his house justified 
rather than the other. ' ' Friends, you who are un- 
saved, will you, like that self-righteous Pharisee, 
refuse to confess your sins; or will you, like that 
poor publican, honestly confess them before God 
to-day, and cast yourself upon his mercy? 

Let us look at another Bible incident. Luke • 



Confession. 



211 



xxiii. 40-43 : "But the other answering rebuked 
him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing 
thou art in the same condemnation? And we 
indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our 
deeds : but this man hath done nothing amiss. 
And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when 
thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said 
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou 
be with me in paradise. " There was Christ on the 
cross, and on each side was a guilty, miserable 
sinner. One of those men went that day with 
Christ to paradise, the other one went down to 
eternal perdition. Why? Because Christ loved 
the one better than the other? No. Because the 
one was more guilty than the other? Because 
Christ was any more able to save the one than the 
other? No. This was the cause: One of them 
was a repenting, confessing sinner, and the other 
was not. Which one of those men are you going 
to imitate? Will you like that penitent thief con- 
fess your sins, and like him put your faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ and be saved; or will you like 
the other refuse to confess your sin, go out of God's 
house to-day impenitent and unpardoned, and at 
last go down to death and hell ? Dear dying man, 
you will never be saved as long as you cover up 
your sin and refuse to confess it. 

Now, let us see what God says about a confession 
of Jesus. Mark it, confession of sin, on the one 
hand, goes right along with confession of Jesus, on 
the other hand. When v^e confess our sins, our 
guilt, we also confess our unworthiness, our insuf- 



212 



Bible Readings. 



ficiency and helplessness, and that we justly deserve 
eternal condemnation. That is a confession that 
we need a Savior; and when we accept this Savior 
and he saves us from our guilt and helplessness, 
from sin and hell, then it magnifies his grace and 
honors his glorious gospel to confess him as our 
Savior from these things. Confession of sin is an 
acknowledgement of our need of Christ; confession 
of Christ is an acknowledgement of his grace that 
saves us from sin. I have no faith in the man who 
says he is a Christian and is not willing to confess 
Christ. You have never confessed your sin if you 
.are not willing to confess your Savior. 

Let us hear what God says on this subject. 
Rom. x. 9: u That if thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou 
shalt be saved.'" Notice particularly the phrase, 
"believe iii thine heart?" Guard against think- 
ing a mere flippant, shallow, superficial assent of 
the mind to the truth, or a mere surface confession 
is sufficient. If you believe with your heart, and 
that belief is accompanied by your confession, 
God's word for it, you shall be saved. Take 
another verse. 1 John iv. 15: " Whosoever shall 
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth 
in him, and he in God." That is, to put the 
thought in another form of scriptural phraseology, 
Christ is formed the hope of glory in the man that 
thus confesses Jesus; God dwells in him; he has 
become 1 ' a new creature in Christ Jesus, ' ' and is 
dwelling in God. 



Confession. 



213 



Let us go a step farther. Read Matt. xvi. 16, 17: 
u And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus 
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Si- 
mon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.' ' 
That is, you did not find it out by your bodily 
senses, you did not discover it by any ordinary 
mental process; it did not come by any human 
philosophy. It was revealed by Almighty God, 
the Father which is in heaven. That is, God the 
Father revealed Jesus Christ as the Son of God to 
Peter's inner consciousness, his inmost soul. You 
can not know that Jesus is your Savior, and the 
divine Son of God, and feel the reality of this 
truth in your heart by a sweet experience, unless it 
is revealed to you by our heavenly Father. Hence, 
that other scripture, 1 1 No man can say that Jesus 
is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost." You can 
without the Holy Ghost flippantly say that Jesus is 
the Christ but you can not say it deep down in 
your heart and in your inmost soul except by the 
power of God dwelling in you. Like Thomas when, 
after Christ's resurrection, he exclaimed from the 
depths of his conscious experience, all doubt being 
removed, "My Lord and my God," so the man 
that truly confesses Christ from the depths of an 
honest heart and a conscious experience must feel the 
power of the Almighty stirring his soul. Hence, 
we are taught that we are born of God, which 
is to have Christ revealed to us by the Father, 
and formed in us the hope of glory. It is to be 



214 



Bible Readings. 



made a new creature in Christ, to become a partaker 
of the divine nature. Now, this is what I call 
experimental godliness. It is the Gibraltar of 
God's saints. Why? Because when Christ is 
within, revealed to the heart, and when the soul 
realizes that Jesus is the Christ, a present personal 
Savior, that soul is forever settled on one subject, 
namely, the divinity of Jesus Christ. All hell can 
not shake that soul's faith in a divine Savior. No 
man to whom Jesus Christ has been revealed by 
God the Father as the Son of God is ever troubled 
again with doubts concerning the divinity of Jesus 
Christ; he knows that Jesus is the Christ, and that 
Christ is his Lord and his God, and standing on 
this rock, like Job of old he can say, 44 1 know 
that my Redeemer liveth." Some skeptic may get 
him all in the fog; he may be confused about a 
great many things; but he can never be driven 
from that stronghold, for he will say, 44 1 know, in 
my heart that Jesus is the Christ; I have felt his 
love and his power; I have held communion with 
him and I know he is my Lord and my God." 

Consequently when we who do thus know the 
Lord hear people cavil and quibble about the 
divinity of Christ and the truth of this blessed 
gospel, it has no effect on us. It fills us with no 
fear, no alarm whatsoever. Here is an abiding 
principle, which I want you to grasp, for it is the 
key to certain facts in the church to-day, which we 
have all observed. A great many people join this, 
that, and the other church, and go through the 
regular routine of worship for a while, and then 



Confession. 



215 



they drift away and hardly ever attend the services. 
Then they begin to read some skeptical book; then 
they fall into donbt : first they do not believe what 
is said abont Jonah and the whale, and then they 
do not believe in future punishment, after a while 
they deny the divinity of Christ, and at last they 
are full-fledged infidels. What is the explanation ? 
There was at first a superficial confession, a mere 
joining the church, there was no revelation to the 
heart and soul by the Holy Ghost in the act of 
regeneration, that Jesus is the Christ. The soul 
grasped at the substance and caught the shadow, 
or mistook the shadow for the substance, but soon 
finding that there was nothing in the shadow 
jumped to the conclusion that the faith of others 
is also empty and delusive, that there is nothing in 
a religious experience or profession, thus finally 
ending in infidelity. There is no more dangerous 
thing in this world than to be intimately and 
closely associated with sacred and holy things and 
at the same time have neither part nor lot in them. 
The hardest man to reach is that man who belongs 
to the church and goes through all the formulas 
and ceremonies of devotion and worship, and yet 
has never known any thing about true, heart-felt 
religion. I would rather try to reach an out-and- 
out scoffer and a rejecter of the gospel. When 
Jesus preached, many souls were saved, many out- 
siders were drawn into the kingdom; but there was 
Judas Iscariot, right next to him, hearing all his 
sermons, seeing his miracles, the treasurer of the 
chosen twelve, intimately associated with the Mas- 



2l6 



Bible Readings. 



ter in all of these things, but without any share in 
the real spiritual blessing. Judas had neither part 
nor lot in the matter. His heart was not in the 
work, consequently this man who stood among 
those closest to Jesus Christ was the one that sold 
him for thirty pieces of silver. 

I knew of a man, who had formerly been a 
preacher, and who said, 4 4 Ah well, I was a preacher 
for a long time, but I am an out-and-out infidel 
now. There is nothing in this whole gospel story 
— or in all this talk about religion. It is all delu- 
sion and fraud." Now, one of two things is true: 
either this man was a hypocrite when he was 
preaching that gospel, or he is not truthful now. 
He either had never known Jesus Christ at all, or 
he was not honest and sincere when he said he did 
not believe in his divinity. 

Let us now hear what the Bible says about con- 
fessing Jesus before men. Some people are like 
Joseph of Arimathea. They think they can fol- 
low Christ secretly and go to heaven without 
ever making a confession. It is a great mistake to 
try to go to heaven u on the sly." Hear what God 
says. Matt. x. 33: u Whosoever therefore shall 
confess me before men, him shall I confess also 
before my Father which is in heaven. 5 y Some of 
you may think that I insist too much on your 
coming out here night after night, and publicly 
confessing Jesus Christ. This verse is my author- 
ity: Jesus Christ tells us to confess him before 
men; therefore, before men, I give you these 
repeated opportunities to confess the Lord. 



Confession. 



217 



Read also Luke xii. 8, 9: "I say unto you, 
Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall 
the Son of man also confess before the angels of 
God : But he that denieth me before man shall be 
denied before the angels of God. n Some of you 
men are ashamed to come out before this congrega- 
tion, before your former wicked companions, and 
confess the Lord Jesus Christ. I pity you from my 
heart. There will come a day when you will stand 
before the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you have been 
ashamed of him here he will be ashamed of you 
there; if you have refused to confess him here he 
will refuse to confess you there. 

Let us hear the word in Mark viii. 38 : " Who- 
soever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my 
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of 
him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when 
he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy 
angels. " My friends, I would rather have the 
ground under me open this morning and swallow 
me down soul and body into that darkness beyond 
the confines of all worlds than to be ashamed of 
Christ and of his blessed word, or to deny him. 
How strange that any of us should be ashamed of 
his gospel, ashamed of his love, ashamed of his 
grace, or ashamed to let this world know that we 
love him better than all else. I am, by God's 
grace, going to be true to him, let the world think, 
say, and do what it may. I am Christ's and he is 
mine. I am not ashamed of him here, and I have 
his promise that he will not be ashamed of me 
yonder. Are you ashamed of him? Let that fire- 



2l8 



Bible Readings. 



fly out yonder under the rock be ashamed to come 
out and confess the sun that shines peerless in the 
cloudless sky to-day; there will be more propriety 
in that than for you — poor dying clod of clay — to 
be ashamed of your Maker and your Redeemer, the 
Son of God, who is " the chiefest among ten 
thousand" and the one " altogether lovely." Let 
this heart cease to beat, let this tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth, whenever I am ashamed of 
him who has loved me, and who has bought me, 
and washed me in his blood. 

Now hear what God says about the believer's con- 
fessing his sin. You are a Christian? Yes. All 
of your sins have been forgiven, and you have be- 
come God's child by being born of God. In your 
spiritual birth the relation of a child to a father was 
established. Now, what is this child of God going 
to do about the sins he commits after he is con- 
verted? Hear what God says, i John i. 9: "If 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to for- 
give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright- 
eousness." If you are God's child and you have 
done wrong — and you are a wonderful man if you 
have not — if you have been overtaken in sin, you 
will not be satisfied to go on and live in that sin, 
but you will come back to your Father and, as a 
prodigal, confess your sins, and he stands pledged 
to forgive you. Some of you church members 
have been doing wrong; you have been committing 
sin in this way and in that, here and yonder. And 
what is the result? Your heart is cold, you are 
under a cloud; you are not enjoying religion; you 



Confession. 



219 



have no peace, no happiness. You are letting a 
cloud come in between you and your Father. Do 
you know how to remove it ? Come like a child 
and confess your sins, for 1 1 If we confess our sins 
he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. " 

An illustration may help some backslidden child 
of God to return to his Father. Here is a devoted 
and loving father who has a mischievous and way- 
ward little boy. On Sunday morning the father 
says, "My son, don't go down to the train to-day, 
and don't go swimming in the river this afternoon, 
nor play marbles on the street." The little boy 
does very well for two or three hours, but at last 
he gets tired of the house and of reading his book. 
After dinner he goes out on the street, then to 
the train, then to the river to swim, and finally 
plays marbles with the boys. About night he 
comes in, and there is the father sitting in his room 
alone. Feeling mean and guilty the boy draws up 
his little chair and sits down. His face is long, 
his eyes are cast down. He steals a glance at 
his father and sees that he is displeased. Still his 
father loves him, and though disobedient he is 
still his father's child. After a while he gets up 
and comes slowly, till he creeps up between his 
father's knees, and putting his arm around him, 
with tears says, u Father, I disobeyed you to-day, 
but I am sorry for it; I am ashamed of it. Will 
you forgive me?" You that are fathers know what 
this father will do. He dr^ ws his child to his bosom, 
and as a big tear rolls down his cheek and drops on 



220 



Bible Readings, 



the boy's head he says, "God bless you, my child, 
you have confessed it. Father forgives you.' ' And 
the loving communion and confidence between 
father and child are restored. You are God's child, 
and have done something you ought not to do. You 
have not been living as you ought to live. Come 
to your heavenly Father and say, " Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no 
more worthy to be called thy son." Confess your 
sins, and your heavenly Father will draw you up 
close to himself, and shine away the clouds and 
make your soul glad and happy. 

Hear now what God says to believers about con- 
fessijig their faults. James v. 16: u Confess your 
faults one to another, and pray one for another that 
ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of 
a righteous man availeth much." The word here 
translated u faults" is the same word that is trans- 
lated u sin" in i John i. 9, and the new version has 
it sins in this passage. But I think it here refers to 
things that pertain to the relations between us as in- 
dividuals, and not so much to the relation between 
us and God. ( £ Confess your faults one to another. n 
Here are two neighbors living right close together, 
sisters, let us say. They both have some faults, 
and they have been doing some things that are not 
just right toward each other. Perhaps they are un- 
neighborly and unkind, and say unpleasant things, 
and make harsh criticisms. Let Sister Smith go 
to Sister Jones and say, "I have come this morn- 
ing to confess my faults, and to say I am sorry that 
I have been so unkind and unaccommodating and 



Confession. 



221 



unneighborly; I want you to forgive me." What 
will Sister Jones do ? She will respond in the very 
same spirit, u Yes, Sister Smith, I too have been 
very unkind and unneighborly; I have done wrong; 
I want to confess it; I want you to forgive me." 
Then they are both glad and happy in their mutual 
confession and forgiveness. 

But what is the devil's plan? How does he, in 
this nineteenth century, pervert this scripture? 
The Bible says, u Confess your faults one to an- 
other," but we turn this command clear around. 
Very often Sister Smith will go to Sister Jones, and 
instead of confessing her own faults, begin to con- 
fess Sister Jones's faults : "I have come around to 
tell you how you have been doing, how unkind and 
unneighborly you have been, how many ugly things 
you have said about my husband and my children." 
" Yes," replies the other, "and I want to tell you 
about your faults," and then she pays back the 
abuse in the same spirit. The devil's plan is for 
Sister Smith to confess Sister Jones's faults, but 
God's plan is for Sister Smith to confess her own 
faults. Let us stand by God's commandment and 
confess our own faults one to another. 

We now come to the two most solemn parts of this 
entire Bible reading. Let us see what God says about 
Christ's confession of his people. He not only re- 
quires us to confess him, but he promises also by 
and by^to confess us. Hear what is written in 
Rev. iii. 5: "He that overcometh, the same shall 
be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out 
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess 



2,22, 



Bible Readings. 



his name before my Father and before his angels. ' * 
It is a great day up yonder in the judgment before 
the great white throne. You know we are told in 
the twentieth chapter of Revelation, 4 4 Whosoever 
was not found written in the book of life was cast 
into the lake of fire." I imagine I hear the angel 
with the ink-horn who is to keep the record calling 
the roll. There is Christ sitting on the great white 
throne. The angel begins : 4 'Abraham, 5 ' and Jesus 
says, "Yes, I confess him;" "Isaac and Jacob," 
"Yes, I confess them;" "Moses, David, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel," "Yes, I confess them 
all." Then the ano-el follows the lonQf list on down 

o o 

to the apostolic times: "Saul of Tarsus," "Yes;" 
"Peter, James, and John," "Yes, they are mine." 
Then he comes to the record of the times of the 
Reformation : 4 4 Martin Luther, " 4 4 Yes, he is mine. " 
4 4 John Knox, John Calvin, John Wesley," 4 4 They 
are all mine; I confess them." At last he comes 
on down to the list of those now living. I hear 
him begin to call those that we know, 4 4 Wilson, 
Mundy, Rose," 4 4 Yes, I confess them." And then 
I hear him say, "R. G. Pearson " How my heart 
will beat in that day! O friends, if I can just hear 
Jesus say, 44 Yes, he is mine, I confess him," that 
will be honor, and glory, and bliss and heaven; 
that will be worth all the toil and strife and pain 
and sorrow of earth. If Christ is mine, and he 
confesses me in that da}/, it will be joy and honor 
enough; this world can think and feel and say and 
do as it pleases about me and about every thing else. 
Then when the angel begins to call the names of 



Confession. 



223 



those who are not written in the book of life, who 
of us here will be found in that number? Dear 
dying sinner, when he calls your name will the 
angel say, 1 ' He is not here, L,ord Jesus ; his name 
is not in the book? " Will Jesus turn to you and 
say, U I called but you refused; I stretched out my 
hand, but no man regarded; I know you not; depart 
from me." What an hour that will be for that 
worldly, Christless man, and for you devotees of 
fashion and society who live without God and slight 
and despise his word and his grace! 

Now we come, in the last place, to the most sol- 
emn thing in all this Bible-reading — the unsaved 
sinner's final confession of Jesus Christ. Hear what 
God says in Phil. ii. 8-1 1: "And being found in 
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given 
him a name which is above every name; that at 
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
the earth; and that every tongue should confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father." Dear sinner, you must either bend your 
knee on the streets of the New Jerusalem in love and 
praise and joy, in adoration and thanksgiving, or 
bend it in shame and despair on the fiery pavement 
of an eternal hell. Bend it you must, bend it you 
shall. It is the edict of God that you and I and 
every one shall bow to Jesus Christ. I thank God 
for the privilege of obeying now. It is the highest, 
honor here, and the highest glory in eternity. 



224 



Bible Readings. 



What else do you learn? He has ordained that 
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 
You will confess him here or hereafter. And either 
high up in God's pure and sinless heaven with the 
redeemed and blood-washed throng you will con- 
fess, with joy and gratitude and transports of bliss 
that Jesus is Christ, or with that tongue withered 
and scorched and blistered in the flames of hell you 
will make the same confession. The Son of God 
who left the glory of heaven and wore a crown of 
thorns and died an ignominious death, will by and 
by be honored by all the inhabitants of earth and 
hell and all the hosts of heaven. Dear Lord Jesus, 
there shall be a return for thy humiliation. 4 ' Ev- 
ery tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord 
to the glory of God the Father.' 1 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 



■HE text this morning is (< Looking unto 



Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; 



who for the joy that was set before him 
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set 
down at the right hand of the throne of God." 
— Heb. xii. 2. 

I want to call your attention especially to the 
three words, "Looking Unto Jesus, " and to 
gather some precious truths from five or six or 
seven verses of Scripture, each one of which pre- 
sents Jesus Christ in a very distinct and a very 
important way. In reading and studying these 
verses we are to look unto Jesus, in order to see 
what he is to us. May the blessed Spirit take 
these things of Christ and show them unto us. 

Why is Christ here spoken of as " the author 
and finisher of our faith?" What do these words 
imply ? The idea is that Jesus Christ is the great 
file-leader — that is, he is the first and the only one 
that ever reduced the teachings of the gospel to 
experimental practice, without a mistake, without 
a fault or a flaw in his entire life. He is the file- 
leader. Of course he is the great foundation, the 
Alpha and Omega, and the light of the world; but 




(225) 



226 



Bible Readings. 



the idea here is that he is the great leader, and that 
all who embrace his faith are to follow him. 
Notice the context also, i 1 Wherefore seeing we are 
also compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin 
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
Jesus.' ' In these words preceding the text you 
see three things: we have our weight our easily 
besetting sins; we have a race to run; and by rea- 
son of these things we need daily patience. O 
what need we have of patience in this great Chris- 
tian conflict ! In order that we may lay aside our 
weights and our besetting sins; in order that we 
may not get out of patience, let us keep our eyes 
on Jesus, our perfect leader, the great Exemplar of 
Christianity. If we do that, if we imitate him, it 
will be very little trouble to lay aside these weights 
— very little trouble to overcome these besetting 
sins. Nor will we lose our patience in the Chris- 
tian race. The reason why so many start in this 
race and do not run well is, that they take their 
eyes off of Jesus. They do not follow in the 
steps of him who is the great Exemplar, and hence 
they get astray. It was when David turned his 
eyes in the wrong direction, and by taking them 
off of Christ that he was led into that awful sin. 

Peter on one occasion asked the Master to let 
him come down out of the ship and walk to him 
on the water. Jesus gave him permission, and 
Peter started. I have no doubt when he first 
started he had his eyes fixed right on Christ, and 



Looking Unto Jesus. 227 



as long as he was looking at Christ he went forward 
without any trouble. But soon he began to see 
that great billow that was coming, and looking at it 
he took his eyes off of Jesus. He saw the foam- 
capped waves rolling up, and the ship rocking to 
and fro; and when he thus took his eyes from 
Christ and put them on the surroundings, the re- 
sult was that he lost heart and faith and courage, 
and began to sink. It is just so with us. As long 
as we keep our eyes on Jesus, looking to him in 
faith and confidence as our example and guide 
and helper, so long will w^e walk and run with 
patience and delight; we will lay aside our beset- 
ting sins, and go on from victory to victory. But 
take your eyes off Jesus, and like Peter begin to 
survey the surrounding difficulties and dangers, or 
like David begin to look upon things that you 
ought not, you will get into trouble. 

So you see that this is a very vital and a very 
practical topic, u Looking unto Jesus." Now, I 
want the Bible to do its own preaching. Let it 
make its own points and tell us in what respect 
we are continually to be " looking unto Jesus." 

First, we are to look unto Jesus as our Redeemer. 
Gal. iii. 13: u Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for it 
is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a 
tree." Christ is here presented as a Redeemer. I 
wish to speak first to the unsaved, and then to the 
saved. Will the unsaved in this audience now 
spend a few moments with me in looking to Jesus 
as their Redeemer? Friends, the fact is, hell has 



228 



Bibi^e Readings. 



a mortgage on your soul ; and you can not redeem 
it; you have neither worth nor merit; you have no 
sufficiency. You are guilty, you are condemned, 
and justly condemned. You can not remove or 
satisfy the mortgage, and yet it must be satisfied or 
you are damned eternally. You can not do it; the 
church can not do it; the angels of God in heaven 
can not. Who can? We read over here in Rev. 
v. 9, where they sung a song, saying, ik Thou art 
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals 
thereof; for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us 
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and 
tongue, and people, and nation.' ' Then who paid 
the price? It was the Lord Jesus Christ. His 
precious blood is the price of your redemption. 
So to speak he lifted helPs mortgage, and holds 
the papers to-day. Now, if you accept the Lord 
Jesus Christ as your Savior, God says that Christ 
becomes the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth. If you reject Christ then 
that terrible debt comes with its crushing weight 
upon you and you can not liquidate it, and hence 
you sink into hell. Or if you accept the Lord 
Jesus Christ, he, having paid the purchase price, 
acquits your soul and gives you eternal life. 

But I imagine I hear some man, some lawyer 
perhaps, say, "If somebody else held the mort- 
gage on my soul, and now Christ has died and paid 
the debt and taken up the papers, it seems to me 
that the papers have only changed hands. I do 
not understand that." The papers have changed 
hands, but they have changed into such hands and 



Looking Unto Jesus. 229 



on such terms that God can be just and the justi- 
fier of the guilty sinner. Suppose there is a 
marriageable young lady in your town. She is 
very heavily in debt and here is a man who holds a 
mortgage on all her possessions. There is another 
man in this town who is also a marriageable man. 
He goes to the one holding the mortgage and 
liquidates the debt, and takes up all the papers. 
Now, the papers have merely changed hands. 
The woman still owes the debt. But suppose this 
man who has paid the debt and holds the papers 
proposes marriage to the woman; and she accepts 
him as her husband. Is not the debt paid ? Are 
not this woman and her husband one in the eyes 
of the law ? Will any body say she is a dishonest 
woman if she never pays the man who satisfied the 
claims against her. No, the debt is paid. She did 
not pay it. Justice has been satisfied, nobody has 
been dishonored, and equity has not been trifled 
with. 

Now, here is a terrible mortgage that hell had 
upon your soul. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the 
price, and now he holds the papers, hence the 
announcement in Revelation, " Behold the Lion of 
the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath pre- 
vailed to open the book and to loose the seven 
seals thereof." Christ paid the debt and holds the 
title deeds of your redemption. He comes and 
offers to be your Savior. You accept him and are 
accepted and become part and parcel of his invisible 
church, which in Bible phraseology is the bride, 
the Lamb's wife. Consequently the debt is paid, 



230 Bible Readings. 

but you did not pay it; God is honored, the law is 
satisfied, the claims of equity have all been met, 
and God can be just and the justifier of the sinner. 
Hence, that word of God: " Christ is the end of 
the law for righteousness to every one that believ- 
eth." Hence, that other statement of the Bible 
concerning those that have accepted this Redeemer: 
4 4 Ye are complete in him ; ' ' completely saved, 
completely justified, completely forgiven. The 
debt is completely liquidated and wiped out. 

But suppose the young lady whose mortgage has 
been cancelled says to the man that cancelled it, 
"No, sir, I will not accept you as my husband." 
He could say, "I have paid the debt, but I hold 
the papers and will execute the law." It is just so 
in your case sinner. If you reject the Lord Jesus 
Christ who redeemed you, refuse to have him for 
your Savior, he will say, U I have paid the price 
of your redemption and hold the title deeds, but 
since you reject me and choose death, the law must 
take its course. I must say to the executioner, 
4 Go forward.' " So you will be cast into hell, not 
to come out till you have paid the uttermost far- 
thing. Dear dying sinner, what are you going to 
do with your Redeemer ? 

Now, a word with these Christians. I want you 
this morning, as God's people, to be looking to 
Jesus, your Redeemer. You read in God's word 
about Abraham and his wonderful fidelity; and you 
often wish that you could live just such a life as 
Abraham lived, a life of beautiful and consecrated 
consistency. You can live such a life, but in order 



Looking Unto Jesus. 231 



to do so you must learn the secret of Abraham's 
fidelity. Christ says, u Abraham rejoiced to see 
my day; he saw it and was glad." Then Abraham 
was looking to Christ as his Redeemer; that was 
the secret of his faithfulness. It must be the secret 
of yours also. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, keep 
your thoughts upon him as the great Exemplar, 
whose foot-steps we must follow. Then like Abra- 
ham you will be faithful. 

What was the secret of Moses' wonderful conse- 
cration to God, of his meekness and self-renuncia- 
tion? We see him as he steps down from 
Egypt's throne and lays aside Egypt's crown 
and identifies himself with the despised He- 
brews. What is the secret of it all ? We are 
told in God's word. From the eleventh chapter of 
Hebrews we learn that Moses 4 1 endured as seeing 
him who is invisible." Moses had his faith fixed 
on the coming Christ as his Redeemer, and by 
faith he saw the glories of the Father. He saw 
another crown and a robe of righteousness; a 
blessed immortality with the Lord Jesus Christ 
beyond the stars. Egypt's toppling throne and 
crown were something to be laid aside. Ah, dear 
friends, did he not make a wise choice? See him 
after a while; he is dying up yonder on Pisgah's 
top, but God buried him, and the angels were his 
pall-bearers, and Michael guarded his tomb. The 
next time we see him he is on the Mount of 
Transfiguration with Elijah and with the Lord 
Jesus Christ in all the "excellent glory" of that 
wondrous scene. 



232 



Bible Readings. 



The reason why the world looks so large to some 
of you to-day, the reason why a twenty dollar gold 
piece looks as big as a buggy wheel, is this : you 
have got the world and mone)' so close to your eyes 
that you can not see any thing else. You can not 
see Jesus and his glory. Why are some of you so 
fascinated with your surroundings? Because you 
have never fixed your gaze on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The best remedy to counteract worldliness 
and worldly-mindedness, sordidness and avarice, is 
to have our minds and hearts fixed on Christ; to 
see the glory and the beauty, the grandeur, the 
bliss and the exaltation of Christ Jesus and his 
kingdom. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and his 
glory all these earthly things will look as small to 
us as they did to Moses. Paul could say concern- 
ing all these things that worldly men prize so 
much, U I count them but dung that I may win 
Christ.' ' The reason you are like Bunyan's old 
man with the muck rake, raking around in the 
trash of this world, is because you have never 
looked up and seen the glory and the beauty of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

I want you sorrowing, sad ones to look to Christ 
as your Redeemer this morning. You talk about 
sorrow and trial and suffering, but you know noth- 
ing about afiliction in comparison with some men. 
Think of the afflictions of Job. In one short day 
all of his property is swept away, in another day 
all of his children died, in another day his health 
is gone, and he sits afflicted from head to foot with 
sore boils, scraping himself with a potsherd; in 



Looking Unto Jesus. 



233 



another day all of his friends have forsaken him; 
then, the next day, come three miserable comfort- 
ers, and they sit down a while and then say to him, 
u Thou art an old hypocrite; that is the reason all 
these afflictions have come npon thee." Then, to 
cap the climax, his w 7 ife comes to him and says, 
u Now, Job, curse God and die." Dear friend, 
what are your afflictions and trials compared with 
these? But where are Job's eyes fixed now? I 
imagine I hear him say, "Yes, my children are 
dead, my property and my health are gone. Here 
I sit scraping myself with a potsherd; forsaken by 
my friends; and here are these miserable comforters 
calling me a hypocrite, and here is the wife of my 
bosom telling me to curse God and die. But I 
know that my Redeemer liveth. Though he slay 
me yet will I trust him. Though worms destroy 
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." And 
that thought concerning the Redeemer and immor- 
tality was the one great thing that kept Job, and 
buoyed him up through this great trouble, and 
brought him out more than conqueror. Have you 
sorrow ? Have you affliction ? Then fix your eyes 
upon Jesus. Look to him as your Redeemer. 

We should also look to Christ as our leader. Isa. 
lv. 4: " Behold I have given him for a witness to 
the people, a leader and commander to the people." 
The person here spoken of is the Lord Jesus 
Christ, whom the Father has given us as a leader. 
He is our leader in every thing, especially in the 
faith, and as the divine pattern whose example we 
are to follow. Hence Peter says, " Christ also 



234 



Bible Readings. 



suffered for us, leaving us an example that we 
should follow his steps." That is the Christian's 
business, not to try to keep up with the ungodly 
world, not to u put on style," or be like those in 
this or that circle of godless sinners — but to follow 
in the steps of Jesus. The Christian's mission on 
earth is to look to God and follow the foot-prints of 
Jesus in self-denying, consecrated service. It 
matters not what your lot in this life may be, nor 
which way your path may lead, you are to follow 
the steps of Jesus. If you are walking in the 
pathway of poverty, the foot-prints of Jesus are 
there; if your path is along the way of persecution 
and sorrow, Jesus has traveled that road, also, for 
we are told that he was a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. If yours is the way of self- 
denial, the foot-prints of Jesus are there. He 
pleased not himself. 

And when we come to the Jordan of death there 
are the foot-prints of Jesus on this side; and as we 
go down into the dark waters and into the grave, 
his foot-prints are there. He has gone before us, 
not only through the Jordan and through the 
grave, but there on the other side we will still have 
his foot-prints to guide us. We will follow them 
as they go up the evergreen mountains of God, to 
the very throne of the Father. We will follow them 
then while we live, and when we are dying, and 
after death. Do you talk about pleasure and hap- 
piness? This is the highest pleasure and the most 
enduring and unmixed happiness — following the 
foot-prints of Jesus. 



Looking Unto Jesus. 



^35 



Some of you church members are like little 
children : you are always wanting a rule for every 
thing you are to do, or not to do. Now, rules are 
very good for children; principles are for men. 
Let me lay down a principle, and you can, if you 
want to, convert it into a rule, by which you can 
settle all these questions. Some people are always 
asking themselves, What is the harm in this, and 
what is the harm in that ? Is it right to do this ? 
Is it wrong to do that ? Here is the principle by 
which you can settle all these questions : Which 
way do' the foot-prints of Jesus lead? Whichever 
way they lead I will follow. You can always settle 
exactly which way you ought to go. You will not 
find the foot-prints of Jesus going into a theater, 
nor to a card party; you will not be led by the 
foot-prints of Jesus into desecrating God's holy 
Sabbath day, nor into the ball-room or gambling- 
hall or saloon. 

You can not go into these places where Jesus 
never went and at the same time follow him. Here 
is the great question you are always to ask yourself: 
If Jesus were here what would he do? If Jesus 
were here which way would he go ? As long as 
you go the way Christ would go and do the things 
you believe Jesus would do, you will not go astray. 
Remember that our duty and safety, as well as 
our happiness, require us to follow the foot-prints 
of Jesus. 

We are also to look unto Jesus as our co7nrnander. 
Isa. lv. 4 : " Behold, I have given him for a witness 
to the people, a leader and a commander to the 



236 



Bible Readings. 



people. " The Lord Jesus, then, is our commander, 
and, mark it, his commands are supreme. No 
other commands, no other allegiance, no other 
sway, are to interrupt or supersede his. What is 
the business of a soldier? It is not to speculate 
about the commands, not to ask why they were 
given, but to obey. What are the commands of 
the Lord Jesus Christ ? ' 1 Deny yourself, take up 
your cross, follow me daily." He does not say, 
u Follow me simply during the evangelistic meet- 
ing, " but u follow me during the holidays, through 
the working days, throughout this whole year, and 
through all the years of your life." 

What other commands has he given us through 
the Holy Ghost, and the prophets and apostles ? 
He says to his people, i 1 Come out from the world 
and be separate." He commands us to avoid the 
appearance of evil, to let our light so shine that 
men may see our good works. If you want to 
settle any question of duty settle it by God's word. 
A great many people — church members — when 
they want to do a certain thing, go to a preacher 
about it; they ask the advice of their pastor, or 
some other preacher. If the preacher condemns 
the thing they want to do, they say, u O well, his 
opinion is nothing, he do n't know any more about 
it than I do," but if he indorses what they want to 
do, then his word is law and authority; and they 
never stop to ask what God says about it. 

I will give you an illustration : I was holding a 
meeting in a town in Mississippi. I there met a 
young lady, a member of a certain church in a 



Looking Unto Jesus. 



237 



town close by in Alabama, who was very fond of 
dancing. She said to me one day, 4 ' Mr. Pearson, 
my pastor, the Rev. Dr. So-and-So ' ' — and, by the 
way, he was quite a doctor — "my pastor says there 
is no harm in dancing, and, therefore, there is no 
harm in it, and I am going to dance as much as I 
please." What was the poor, silly girl doing? 
She was shaping her conduct and life by the words 
of a man, when that man was not guided by the 
word of Almighty God. A certain preacher in 
Brooklyn — I will not name him — preached a 
sermon in which he seemed in some sense to justify 
dancing, or apologize for it. It was published, and 
a young man whom I knew cut this part of the 
sermon out of the paper, and carried it in his 
pocket, showing it around as if it had all the 
authority of a divine oracle. Whenever any body 
said any thing to him about the ball-room or the 
dance, he would draw forth his paper and say, 
' 1 Here is what the Rev. Mr. Blank says on this 
question. ' ' Now, let me say, love and respect and 
honor pastors and teachers and evangelists if they 
are true men, godly men, who give you a "thus 
saith the Lord " to justify their teachings. But I 
care not for Doctor this or that, or for any man's 
authority or opinion, unless it is backed up by the 
plain, emphatic, distinct testimony of God's word. 
Christ is my commander, Christ gives me my 
orders, and my business is to know his orders and 
to follow them. May God help us all to obey 
Christ as our commander. What would you think 
of a soldier claiming to belong to a certain general's 



2 3 8 



Bible Readings. 



command, and yet going around obeying the orders 
of somebody else ? 

We are also to look unto Jesus as our friend. 
Prov. xviii. 24: U A man that hath friends must 
show himself friendly : and there is a friend that 
sticketh closer than a brother." What friend is so 
good, so true, so kind, and so mighty a defender as 
Jesus? Sinner, he is just the friend you need; 
saint, he is just the friend you need. He is never 
untrue. He never misunderstands us. He blesses 
us while we are living, he sustains and comforts us 
in death. He is a friend and Savior after death 
and throughout eternity. Whoever trusts and fol- 
lows him will find how much better Jesus is than 
all other friends. 

You remember when President Garfield was 
dying, how his wife sat there by his bedside, and 
held on to his hand until he had gone down so far 
into the dark river that she could go with him no 
farther. She must let go that hand, and he passed 
beyond her reach or help. It is so with all earthly 
friends; they can go with us so far, but no farther. 
At last they must let go our hands. There is a 
boundary line across which our wives, our hus- 
bands, our children, and our parents can not go 
with us. There that sweet friendship must cease, 
there human love can no longer minister to us or 
comfort us. But, thank God, Jesus goes with us 
not only through life, but when we come to die, 
and when the hand of our dearest earthly friend 
slips from the grasp, the Lord Jesus Christ is 
there, and he says, u I will hold thy right hand." 



Looking Unto Jesus. 239 



Thank God, he leads us up the banks on the other 
side. 

You remember the story of that faithful friend 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, who for eighteen long 
years guarded his silent remains there on the Island 
of St. Helena. You call that friendship, friendship 
after death. But we have a better friend than that, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. He will guard our sleeping 
dust, not simply for eighteen years, but till the 
trump of God shall wake the dead. Then, in the 
resurrection morning, he will raise our sleeping 
dust and fashion it like unto his own glorious 
body. He will take us into his own blessed 
heaven. 

Dear saints of God, shall we be untrue to such a 
friend as that? Shall we ally ourselves with his 
enemies? Shall we say we are friends of Jesus 
Christ, and then, at the same time, be u hail fellows 
well met " with all of his enemies ? I want to illus- 
trate the perfidy, the spiritual adultery, of those 
people that say they are friends of Jesus Christ, 
and then ally themselves with his enemies. Sup- 
pose a man and wife live across the street, and 
another man lives in the house adjoining. These 
two men meet in the street; they get into a 
wrangle, and one deliberately and in cold blood 
murders the other. Now, suppose in the course of 
two or three months you see the woman whose 
husband was murdered walking down the street 
and leaning on the arm of her husband's murderer, 
looking up into his face and smiling, saying by her 
very demeanor, "I am delighted and just where I 



Bible Readings. 



want to be. This is the company in which I find 
my highest happiness." What would every true 
man and woman think ? All would think and say, 
"She is disloyal to her husband's memory; she is 
not a true wife." Now, here is the Lord Jesus 
Christ the bridegroom, and here are those that say 
they are the bride, the Lamb's wife. The Lord 
Jesus Christ came into the world once, and this 
heartless, godless world, deceitful and desperately 
wicked, murdered him on the cross. And here are 
people who say they love Jesus, people who claim 
him as their friend and their bridegroom. See them 
at the world's balls and card parties and carousals — at 
every place where Jesus is dishonored and scoffed at 
— leaning on the arm of that depraved and godless 
world that has crucified and murdered the Bride- 
groom. People who do this may be church mem- 
bers, but I tell you, they are guilty of spiritual adult- 
ery, moral whoredom against Almighty God. God 
said of Israel that for their whoredom he would send 
them into exile and wipe them out as a nationality. 
Dear friends, shall we thus turn our backs on our 
Lord and go and mingle with his enemies ? If I 
am not true to Jesus I do not want to be faithful to 
any thing or any body. When I break faith with 
Jesus Christ let my heart break and let my soul go 
down into perdition. Christ says, ' 4 Ye are my 
friends if you do whatsoever I command you." 

Again, we are to look to Jesus as our advocate. 
i John ii. i : "My little children, these things 
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 



Looking Unto Jesus. 241 

Christ the righteous." That is, he is our attorney, 
so to speak; we are his clients; we have put every 
thing into his hands; he will plead our cause up 
yonder. In Revelation, xii. 10, the devil is called 
the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses them 
day and night before our God. I have no doubt he 
says, " God Almighty, are you going to take that 
young man and bring him unto heaven, when 
many times I have seen him sin and break your 
law? How are you going to be just and take that 
man into heaven?" Then Jesus Christ says, 
" Father, all that the devil said about that man is 
true; but Father, I paid the precious price of 
redemption; I satisfied the mortgage; I have met 
the law's demands. I offered him complete, abso- 
lute pardon through faith, and now he stands in 
me complete. Father, what there is against him 
put it down to my account." Thank God, what 
deficit there is in our account the Lord Jesus will 
make all right. Church member, how can you be 
untrue to such a Savior ? 

We are to look to Jesus also as our elder brother. 
John xx. 17: u Jesus said unto her, Touch me 
not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but 
go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend 
unto my Father and your Father; and to my God 
and your God. ' ' 

Christ then is our Elder Brother. People talk 
about being akin to the great families of earth, to 
the aristocracy; I care very little for that. I want 
to be akin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I thank 
God that the mystic blood of Jesus Christ, the 
16 



242 



Bible Readings. 



Prince of Peace, the Son of God, flows in the veins 
of every one who has accepted him by faith. We 
are akin to the aristocracy of the skies. I belong 
to the first families of heaven; I am a brother of 
the royal house of Jesus. He is our blessed kins- 
man, our glorious Redeemer and Elder Brother. 

We are taught also to look unto Jesus as our 
Judge. Acts xvii. 31: u Because he hath ap- 
pointed a day in the which he will judge the world 
in righteousness by that man whom he hath or- 
dained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all 
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 
He is to be our Judge. Sinner, does not your 
heart sometimes quake and tremble at the thought 
that you are to stand before your Redeemer whom 
you are slighting, before the Son of God, as your 
judge ? You have trampled his blood under your 
feet, you have spurned his love, you have rejected 
his message, you have despised his overtures of 
salvation, yet you must stand before him and 
receive judgment for your deeds. You limp and 
lavender, slack-twisted church members, that play 
cards and dance and go to theaters, and live just as 
you did before you pretended to have religion, does 
it not make you quake and tremble to think you 
are going to stand before that Judge? Do you 
know what he says to you ? As he said to Laodi- 
cea of old, since you are neither hot nor cold — you 
are not hot enough to be in a glorious, blessed 
revival, nor yet so cold but that you go to church 
on Sundays — as you are neither hot nor cold > 
Christ says, " I will spew you out of my mouth." 



Looking Unto Jesus. 



243 



But, earnest, faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, 
does it not cheer and gladden your hearts that you 
will stand before Jesus? I thank God that I am 
finally to be judged by Jesus Christ. Why? He 
is my Redeemer; that Redeemer is my Leader; that 
Leader is my Commander; that Commander is my 
Friend; that Friend is my Elder Brother, and that 
Elder Brother is my Judge. 

Lastly, we are to look unto Jesus as our all and 
in all Col. iii. 11: " Where there is neither 
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, 
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is 
all and in all." Christ is the all and in all of our 
redemption, of our justification and regeneration; 
of our hopes and joys. Some people talk a great 
deal about going to heaven; they want to go to 
heaven, and that seems to be the goal of their 
ambition. I want to go to heaven if Jesus is there, 
and if Jesus is not there I do not care any thing 
about it. I want to go to heaven: yes; but I do 
not like to hear any body put heaven above Jesus 
Christ, and talk so much about going to heaven 
and so little about being with Jesus. Let us stick 
to the old Bible phraseology, to the form of sound 
words as well as sound doctrine. Paul said, "I 
have a desire to depart " — and go to heaven ? No. 
"I have a desire to depart and be with Christ." 
If heaven is heaven it is because Jesus is there, 
and Christ is the all and in all of heaven. 

Now, in conclusion, may I relate a little incident 
that illustrates the true idea of heaven ? In a cer- 
tain city there was a father and a mother^ and they 



244 



Bible Readings. 



had a lovely little girl. The mother was taken 
very sick, and grew worse until they had to send 
the little one away to a neighbor's house; and 
finally the mother died, and was buried. After 
two or three days they let the child come back 
home, and as soon as she came in she ran into her 
mother's room and said, " O mamma; where is my 
mamma?" She ran back then into the sitting 
room, calling, " O mamma?" Then she ran into 
the dining-room and said, u Where is my mam- 
ma?" At last some one put his hand on her 
little head and said, " Darling, your mamma is not 
here; she is gone." Then the child said, "If 
mamma is not here I don't want to stay. Let me 
go away." Friends, when I get to heaven and 
walk up the streets of the New Jerusalem, I want 
to see Paul and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; and 
I am going to ask them, "Where is my Savior? 
Where is my Lord who died to redeem me?" And 
I think if they were to tell me, "He is not here," 

I would say, "I don't want to stay. It is not 
heaven for me if my Lord is not here." And I 
think I would feel as Mary felt at his empty tomb, 

I I They have taken my Lord away and I know not 
where they have laid him." It will be heaven 
because Jesus is there. 



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